


After the Fall

by SpenName



Category: Transformers: War for Cybertron
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-02
Updated: 2013-09-19
Packaged: 2017-12-22 04:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/908973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpenName/pseuds/SpenName
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after the events of Fall of Cybertron, the Autobots have made their way through the space bridge, however they have landed on the wrong planet, and not everyone is accounted for. With Prime and Megatron MIA, Jetfire is thrown into a leadership position while he, Ratchet, and Ironhide, all uncover disturbing facts about their closest friends. Meanwhile, a Decepticon once thought dead takes command of the Nemesis in Megatron's absence while Thundercracker slowly learns that there is more to this enigmatic leader than meets the eye. While hell breaks in the depths of space, Cybertron still stirs...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nobody Blinked

Cybertron, the home world of the Transformers, a glimmering silver orb hanging in the sky among the stars, crisp blue lights shone from its crevices as moon sized skyscrapers peeked from the planet's depths. The galaxy marveled it with awe. However, on one very average day, a war broke out on the planet's surface between two factions, the Autobots, and the Decepticons. An entire year passed and out of all the nations in the galaxy, nobody blinked.

Decades passed and everything went to hell. Cybertron's once silver plating had turned a sickening black from rust, its molten skyscrapers now toppled and a new musty orange light replaced its pure blue while a large chunk of the Cybertron itself could be seen slowly floating away from its source. With the planet's core shut down, Cybertron's veins ran dry; its life giving properties ceased to function forcing its inhabitants to find another means of survival.

The solution turned out to be rather simple, leave the planet, and find a new home.  
Nearly thousands of miles away from Cybertron's surface were the last of its inhabitants. The Ark, a massive spaceship made to carry the rest of the Autobot army through the spacebridge portal, they hoped to leave the war and find peace, however when it came to war for the Autobots, for some odd reason, the enemy always seemed to have the bigger guns. The Nemesis, a warship nearly ten times the size of the Ark had intercepted them, a slaughter broke out. This is where we are now.

A Decepticon drop ship was shot down, its crew scrambling around within, grabbing at whatever equipment they could to save themselves. The ship crashed into a pillar exploding on impact. In the middle of the Ark's port stood the defense Hub, am armored base of operations atop of the ship. Armed to the teeth with gun emplacements and heavy turrets, the hub almost begged to be a target for the Decepticons.

'That last blast took a toll on Optimus, you want to help? The time is now!'

Ironhide slammed the speaker back down and attached himself back onto the turret.  
The barrel peeked through a small window near the top of the hub as other turrets were manned symmetrically along the sides of the hub. Ironhide was a veteran, an Autobot who had fought in smaller wars before this one, the red and black bot had the scars to prove it. But despite every scar, every medal he had earned fighting in those lesser wars, none of them had prepared him for this battle, this slaughter.

The old Autobot's flaky hands trembled, he hated this feeling, it was a feeling he hadn't had in ages. He was scared. With a pull of the trigger he resumed mowing down Decepticons from the left side of the hub to the right.  
It still wasn't enough; the Decepticons scavenged themselves up and continued to unload their weapons on the hub, each blast creating a bigger dent in its armored plating.

'Perceptor!' he called 'The Decepticons are about to burst through the hub's walls, we need to find a new way to flush them out!'

Among the Autobots scurrying around the hub trying to find a frag grenade or a rifle to hold off a Decepticon with, a meek red Autobot scientist was manually working some of the Ark's guns from a computer terminal across the room. His fingers moving as quickly as his processor burned the information that was sent through.

'My apologies Ironhide,' said the scientist calmly 'but I'm afraid that leaving our current position to fight heavily armed Decepticons at this point in time would be considered "suicide"'

Perceptor turned his head and spotted a trembling Autobot cough up oil. The Autobot muttered a pass phrase under his breath and in mere moments, his entire upper half had self-destructed.  
Perceptor's cold demeanor flickered as he turned back to the computer terminal.

'It barely matters at this point of time' he said grimly

'Why's that?' asked Ironhide who couldn't help but feel that he already knew the answer.

'The Ark will not stand much longer given the ongoing attack of the Decepticons; add that to the instability of the portal and the damage it may cause, our probability of survival is under-'

'Incoming!'

A rocket hit Ironhide's turret causing it to explode on impact. Ironhide was thrown back from the explosion, hitting hard on the floor as he landed.

'Never mind Perceptor, I think I got the just of it.' He said weakly

However, all Ironhide could hear was a low muffling sound in his audio receptors as he spoke; the blast appeared to have taken out his hearing.  
The damaged bot tried to get back up but his legs wouldn't allow it. He soon realized that his hearing wasn't the only thing he had lost from the explosion, he lowered his head to face where his legs were and quickly turned away, his legs weren't malfunctioning or even damaged to begin with, they were just gone, torn off from the explosion.

He shut his optics and thought to himself, this can't be how it all ends is it? Lying on the floor of the defense hub, slowly bleeding Energon while deaf, paralyzed, and surrounded by dead people? That is not how his last moments were supposed to be. He opened his optics and turned to where Perceptor was. Perceptor was nowhere to be seen, figures. The terminal the scientist was working on was crumpled up with a fountain of sparks pouring out of the monitor like a waterfall of light. He scanned the room for the scientist only to learn that he wasn't the only one gone. The Autobot's that were just moment ago running around the Hub or mounting turrets, were now either lying dead on the ground, or missing from their posts, mostly the former.

How long were his optics shut for? He could still hear some low rumbles in what was left of his crumpled audio receptors and concluded that the battle was still ongoing. As he crawled to the nearest surveillance monitor, he began to wonder how many of them were still alive, Perceptor, Warpath, Bumblebee, Optimus… he began to feel the lack of Energon affect his processor. He reached the monitor and booted up system. Several images popped up on the screen that Ironhide has only then realized was riddled with cracks. He was right, the battle was still ongoing, Autobots and Decepticons from all different sub groups and commando units were in forms of combat from snipers blowing off the heads of others to the brutes that tore apart the little ones with swords and hammers. Ironhide recognized some of the Autobots –both dead and alive- on the monitor, he thought of each one of them fondly.

That young one, Tune-up, Tulip, he couldn't remember the name, used him as an inspiration to fight with his fists. Now he's dead. That one got in a fight with him at Maccadam's before the war, dead. That one bot used to make great jokes to lighten the mood and Oh! Now Tulip's fist is being forced down his throat. Among the Autobots and Decepticons on the monitor being shot, stabbed and blown apart, he spotted Optimus. He was at the far end of the ship, right above where the rear thrusters were. The flaming wreckage of a Decepticon drop ship was mere meters away, its fumes bellowing from its source and drifting off at Cybertron.

The Autobot leader was on his knees, standing above him was Megatron, mocking him with his mere presence alone. That brief moment, all of Ironhide's motivation was drained away, he tried looking away but his head wouldn't budge. He stared at the screen as the light it produced reflected off his face, while Megatron wandered over to the crashed wreckage and unhooked a nucleon shock cannon.

Ironhide's optic caught movement in the corner of the screen; he squinted to see a small yellow Autobot steadily crawling towards Optimus.

Ironhide couldn't mistake the bot for anyone else, it was Bumblebee.

What does that kid think he' doing? Ironhide thought to himself as the mini bot's figure slowly moved across the screen.

Megatron bared his canines as he aimed the shock cannon at Prime's helm, Ironhide couldn't hear what they were saying, but from the look on Megatron's face he could tell that the Decepticon leader was happy about it. Prime stared down the barrel of the cannon with the same confident expression he had always used; he was ready to accept his fate.

Just as Megatron pulled the trigger, Bumblebee had put all his energy into his leg servos and leaped in front of Optimus, the nucleon blast struck Bumblebee's chest tearing a deep dark hole into his spark casing. The yellow bot fell to the charred metal ground, sparks dancing around his chest wound, his body moving in a spasm from the energy of the blast before finally settling down. Following it all, Bumblebee's optics dimmed from a flickering blue to a murky grey.

'No!" Ironhide shouted. He still couldn't hear himself, hell he couldn't even feel himself, the only thing he could feel was his life force slowly slipping away

'No…'

Ironhide accepted the outcome and his optics darkened

_Optimus will be next_ , those were his last thoughts before shutting down.

Optimus screamed Bumblebee's name, his vocalizer cracking from the shock. He held the collapsed bot and felt for a life sign. With a quick, painful realization, he learned that Bumblebee was no more. Optimus had learned to mourn soldiers long before the war began, he learned to mourn for Prime's, those who lost too much, and even the enemy at times, but this was the first time he would have to mourn a friend. This was far different from anything else he had experienced in this war; it was by far the worst.

'What a waste of Energon' Megatron snarled as he threw the overloaded shock cannon to the ground.

Prime's mind became flooded with memories of the young scout. Back when they first met during the attack on Iacon, the battle with Trypticon, he remembered Bumblebee's enthusiasm and when it was taken away when Megatron ripped out his voice box. All that was left of the little yellow Autobot was a burnt corpse and an extinguished spark. Optimus did not know why but for once he didn't feel sorrow, he felt something else, something he never truly felt before, something he never wanted to feel before, he knew of it too well though, and he knew only too many words for it.  
Anger, Rage, Bloodlust- the urge to rip Megatron's throat out, he finally knew it, he finally understood.

'After eons of conflict, I finally see truth in your words Megatron.'

Megatron casually approached the Autobot leader while unsheathing an Energon blade.

'And what might that be, Optimus?'

Uncaring for an answer, Megatron brought the sword down only for it to be caught by Optimus, the blade cutting wounds into the palm of the Prime's hand.

'That this Universe, no matter how vast, will never be big enough for you and I to coexist!'

Optimus punched Megatron in the gut sending the Decepticon flying onto the higher decks. Megatron managed to dodge just in time as Optimus leapt at him with his own blade, Cybertron's blazing core shining behind his silhouette.  
The two bots clashed like they have done many times in the past, only this time was different, with every stab, every punch every gunshot that was made, both leaders felt their rage growing stronger and stronger.

After one last stab at Megatron, the portal began to tear the Ark apart; all of their work as well as their future were being taken away from them in one long grab and pull. As Optimus was sucked through the portal, there was only one thing on his mind, something Megatron said.

"This is what you chose Prime when you defied me, all of this is your doing" Megatron was right.

Ironhide's optics sprang open. He immediately sat up and observed his surroundings; he was in the Ark's medical bay. The damage had taken its toll on the place, the lighting in the room was dim and piles of debris littered every corner. He soon realized he wasn't the only injured bot in the room, several other wounded Autobots were lying on recharge slabs, to Ironhide most of them didn't look like they were going to make it.

Hound appeared to be hooked up to a sort of life support machine while Scattershot had a hole in his chest exposing several wires and bolts, Arcee was in the center in the room with her helmet split open. It appeared that either Ratchet or First Aid was doing some sort of surgery on her earlier. He sat up and stared at his lap, his legs had been reattached, but what happened after he went in to stasis?

The memories of what happened to Bumblebee came back to him with a flash. Ironhide moaned and brought a hand to his face, the poor kid didn't deserve it, he was the one that should have been out there protecting Prime, not the kid, it was his job as his bodyguard after all, not a scout's.

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

'It's about time you woke up old timer.'

Ironhide recognized the bellowing voice immediately and a smile crept upon his face.

'Warpath, don't you have anything better to do than watch a bot while he naps?'

Leaning in the doorway, with his arms crossed stood a bulky red Autobot with a blue visor, a red faceplate, and a case of tank turret syndrome.

'Heh, what can I say, I wanted to make sure you were still online, after all an old man like you is bound to die at any moment.'

Ironhide tried to stand but teetered before catching his balance. He was glad he didn't fall otherwise he wouldn't hear the last of it from Warpath.

'Hah I knew I would survive in the end.' he lied.

'Besides you aren't all shiny an' new yourself either' he said motioning at Warpath's torso.

Warpath looked down at his body, his cannon was missing. It had been ripped out by a Decepticon while he was in tank mode (what's worse is that the Bastard got away with it). His visor was cracked and his arms had several cuts in them leaking tiny drops of Energon.

'You think this is bad?' He replied looking back up again 'Some of the guys who survived are barely recognizable anymore'  
Ironhide's expression lowered

'So how many of the "guys" are still functional' he asked unsure if he wanted to know the answer or not.

Warpath let out a sigh and sat down on a nearby bench.

'Less than a hundred of us are still alive, fewer are up and about. Perceptor is still okay just to let you know, he said he bailed on you and wanted to apologize, he's been up the past couple of nights working on finding our location on the map though so I wouldn't hold it against him.'

Ironhide was surprised that he hadn't consider it before.

'Warpath where are we?'

Warpath looked confused

'We are eh… in the med bay, maybe you need some more rest after a-'

'No not that, I mean did we win the battle? Did we make it to our destination? …Is the Ark functional?'

Warpath scratched the side of his head 'Er, maybe you should ask Perceptor, I'm not too good at explaining the…stuff'

'Then what are we waiting for? Let's go see him.'  
Ironhide stumbled as he walked forward catching the side of his repair bay for support.

'Easy now' said Warpath as he helped Ironhide back up.

Ironhide gently pushed him away before regaining his balance.

'I'm fine, let's just go'

The two of them transformed to vehicle modes, Ironhide in his old beat up truck mode that he had used since before the war had begun, and Warpath, a barrel-less tank that lacked its signature deafening cannon. For Ironhide conversion was terribly painful but compared to what he experienced in the previous battle, this was nothing. Despite his wounds Warpath didn't even let out a grunt. The two of them proceeded to speed down the viscera stained corridors of the Ark's halls, passing by broken off limbs and thrown data pads as they did so.

'Warpath, back on topic- besides you me and Perceptor, who else made it? I didn't see Ratchet in there, is he..?'

'Ratchet's fine, thank Primus for that. Without him I don't think many of us would still be around, the reason you didn't see him is because- well-'

Warpath slowed himself as he tried to form the words

'After what happened to Bumblebee- He was killed by Megatron. I'm sorry Ironhide; Jazz went to gather his body inside before the portal tore up the Ark, but the portal… it sucked what was left of the little guy away.'

'I know Warpath, I saw what happened'

He didn't want to ask about Optimus knowing that if he wasn't killed by Megatron he would have greeted him by now. Deep inside he knew that he just didn't want to hear it.

'I'm gonna miss the little squirt Ironhide'

'Same here Warpath… Same here'

_Cybertron: Shockwave's lair_

Starscream woke up under a pile of metal; everything was a blur and his head felt as though it were pounded by one of Rumble's pile drivers. He picked himself up and gathered his thoughts. One moment he was trying to make a deal with the leader of the Lightning strike Coalition, next thing he knew he was thrown across the room and forced to undergo stasis lock.  
He scanned the room, charging his rifle in the process. Grimlock was nowhere to be seen.

He cursed under his breath. How am I supposed to gather my army when my first employee runs off?

Starscream transformed into his sleek red and white jet mode and flew out of the purple cylindrical room into the bright city of Kaon. From above, Starscream could see the thousands of street lamps lighting the city up as if it were a nebula.  
As he flew around the tall purple and green lit skyscrapers, he came to realize that he was the only one in the city, besides him the place was completely devoid of life. He felt a wave of uneasiness as he saw that not a single living Decepticon patrolled the skies or drove around on the streets. Were they all fighting on Megatron's behalf? Or did the Autobots wipe them all out while he was in stasis. No, he couldn't have been out that long, but something strange was happening and he intended to find out what. Wherever he flew, the more fear had overcome him.

He began to think aloud as the questions flooded his mind.

'What if I'm the only one left?'

'What if Megatron chased after Shockwave's stupid idea of visiting other worlds to drain them of Energon?'

'… What if Megatron took everyone else with him? That would mean I would be left alone, and with no Energon for myself…'  
Starscream's scanner began to beep,

'Finally a life signal'

His GPS showed a red dot a few kliks away from his position.  
There was someone else still here; he didn't care if it was Megatron or Optimus Prime. All he wanted was to find someone who may be able to help him, just so that he wasn't alone. But then again, whoever they are, they should have enough Energon to last him a little longer to live. As he flew closer to his destination, he noticed that the signal was coming from Shockwave's old power tower, or what's left of it. The base of the tower was gone and the energy that surrounded it was gone with it. Did this mean Megatron was still somewhere on the planet? Or was this a part of Shockwaves plan to leave him here to die.

His thought was interrupted as he located a second energy reading. The second red dot on his GPS was speeding right towards his position on the map. It was heading straight for him.

'Hah, he flew right over us, what an idiot'

Swoop chuckled to himself while he sat on a piece of debris within the deep trench, the other two Dinobots sat adjacent to him

'Quiet Swoop, he can't seem to track our life signals, but that doesn't mean he can't hear us' said an angry Slug.

'Oh come on, you got to admit seeing that weirdo freak-out gives a sort of satisfaction no?'

Slug rubbed his optic lenses

'We are stranded on a dying planet with no Energon and more importantly, no friends, if this isn't the time to be solemn then I don't know what is' said the Tricera-bot gruffly  
The Stego-bot, Snarl stepped up to speak, something he was never good at.

'Slug is right; Grimlock gave his life for us, we need to-'

'Us?' interrupted Slug who stood up and jabbed a finger at Snarl's face

'He deserted us! All he wanted was to keep the Autobots from leaving so that we could all die fighting the Decepticons in what he calls an "honourable and glorious way"' He sat down and rested his head in his hands.

'If he was smart he would have stayed here with us, then we could have had Prime pick us up and be up on the Ark in no time!'

Snarl remained silent, not knowing how to respond.

'Aw lay off the kid would yah Slug? He was just trying to defend you is all'

'Shut up Swoop.' Slug leaned in 'it's about time we begin the operation as planned.'


	2. Fits and Fists

_Perceptor_

Perceptor sat in his chair with one leg draped over the other. He was tapping his finger against the chair's arm while rolling a laser pen around his knuckles, both were obvious signs of impatience. Jetfire insisted they wait for Ironhide before going over the current situation, given his large role in Autobot High command, but the impatient scientist couldn't find it any more than completely unnecessary. Bots like Ironhide were forged for their strength and their bravado, not for their intelligence or their "calm" dispositions. He scanned the conference room for the seventeenth time that hour, the round table was trashed and the chairs had been flung across the room.

_Pity no one has bothered to fix it,_  he thought.

The room was a cylindrical shape with enough space to fit over a dozen bots. High command would have originally sat at the round table placed in the center of the room during meetings to discuss plans with one another (Of course in the end, Prime would have been the one to make the ultimate decision). Higher ups that weren't in stasis, med bay, or dead, were standing in the room doing their own business as Perceptor sat and observed, they were either talking to one another or daydreaming.

From left to right across the room stood, Cliffjumper and Jazz, who were going on about something involving scatter blasters and nucleon rifles, Silverbolt; who was leaning against a wall and staring at the floor as if he were in a trance and Jetfire, who stood in the middle of the room reading a data pad while Sideswipe stood next to him seemingly trying to grab his attention. Ratchet was absent of course due to his current emotional status after the death of Bumblebee; however it was apparent that Jetfire was willing to let that one slip.

Ironhide walked into the room stiffly and made a beeline for Perceptor while Warpath trailed close behind.

Perceptor stood up, smiled and walked towards Ironhide offering a handshake.

'It is nice to see you are still functional Ironhide! I hope you didn't happen to need any hel-'

Before he could finish his sentence, Ironhide's fist slammed into the scientist's face.

* * *

_Cybertron: Kaon_

_Starscream_

'ARRRGGGHH'

Starscream screamed as the large flaming object clipped the seeker's wing.

The second energy signature had somehow snuck up on him, Starscream had only heard a low rumble emitting behind him before the massive object had hit him.

Whatever it was, it was bigger than he would have expected it to be. After losing a chunk of his wing, Starscream began to slowly but surely spin out control. The ground grew closer and closer to him as he tried to maintain balance in his circuits.

'Scrap, Scrap, Scrap' he cursed as he fell towards the jagged metallic ground below.

He transformed into his robot mode and landed face first into an empty highway, some of the metal from the street itself had shoved itself into the back of his mouth as his body dragged across the road. He coughed the metal back up and held his head in his hand. Starscream slowly got back up onto his feet and turned in the direction of the energy signature.

He growled in anger before raising his voice. 'Who dares attack Starscream!' his vocalizer shrieked

He looked into the distance and spotted what hit him; it appeared to be a large flaming object not unlike a meteor.

_A meteor landing on Cybertron_  he thought,  _far too unlikely._

Besides, who had ever heard of a meteor that carried a Cybertronian energy signature?

The object crashed itself into the ground about a kilometer away from him creating a large crater within one of Kaon's mant plazaz, Starscream was far enough so that he wouldn't tumble into the crater, but the blast itself produced enough chunks of metal and debris – as well as an explosive force – that was enough to send the seeker flying, and not in the way he usually preferred.  
After smashing through a rundown skyscraper, Starscream landed in a pile of rubble consisting of crashed drop ships and peeled metal.

He pulled himself out of the rubble and thought about how this day couldn't get any worse, the seeker slapped himself on the head upon realising how he may have just jinxed himself and activated his scanners; in the crater was the second energy signature.

_Best not go back there;_  he thought  _who knows what I might find.  
_

He tapped at his wrist and searched the co-ordinates for the first energy signature as originally planned.

_Finally some good news_  he thought as a smile crept onto his faceplate

The signal was coming from just around the corner, behind the skyscraper he had smashed through.

* * *

_The Ark_

_Ironhide_

'Ironhide what the frag are you doing?!'

'Stay out of this Jetfire, this wise guy left me out there to die!'

Teeth gritted and optics blazed, Ironhide slugged Perceptor across the face for a second time. Warpath and Jazz pulled the two away from each other while making sure not to get hit by either one of Ironhide's famous fists.

'This is rather uncalled for considering your current condition Ironhide.' Perceptor snapped.

'Well my condition wasn't so fine back in the Command Hub, you know the Command Hub? Where you abandoned me? Is that what you do Perceptor? Do you just run away whenever an Autobot is in need of help as they lay dying?'

Perceptor flared his nostrils and tried to take a step forward only for Jazz to hold him back.

'I did not "run-away", I left to reactivate the Ark's over-shields. Without them I doubt we would have made it through the portal at all.' he argued

'What he says is true Ironhide' said Jetfire in a calming tone 'If anything, you owe him your life after what he did'

Ironhide grunted as he shoved Warpath aside

'Now if you would excuse me' said Perceptor as he bent over to wipe the dust off of his legs.

'I believe that only top ranked personnel are allowed in this room' he cocked his head up and pointed a finger at Warpath

'What? What makes you all so special?' argued Warpath anxiously.

Ironhide hated having to agree with Perceptor, especially after what had just happened, but he was still a follower of the Autobot code.

'You better listen to what he says kid, don't want ya yelling while the grownups talk.'

'Come on guys' argued Jazz 'Cliffjumper's here and he isn't considered "top ranked personnel", I don't see why Warpath can't stay for the meeting either.'

Perceptor clapped his hands together in realization 'Ah yes of course, what was I thinking?' Perceptor signalled the two bots to the door with his hands 'Both of you. Out. Now.'

'Hey!' Cliffjumper balled his fists as he marched stiffly to the scientist that was nearly twice the size of him.

'I've been in more action than you ever have and –most likely- ever will be Percy; I think I deserve a little respect.'

Jetfire raised a hand in assurance 'this isn't about you Cliffjumper, this is just about the chain of command-'

'Enough!'

Everyone simultaneously craned their heads to face Warpath. 'I get it, you all want me out of here because I'm not a vet or-or a tech head. I get  
it. I'm done. I'm gone.'

Warpath stomped out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him while the others stood there silent. They all just stared at the door unsure how to react.

Jetfire, frustrated, brought the palm of his hand to his helm trying to think of what to do next.

'Perceptor, why don't we get this started?' he asked faking a smile.

Perceptor cleared his throat and tapped at some Holo-keys on his arm. Light turquoise holograms illuminated the room consisting of a galaxy map, as well as several written notes and equations Perceptor had made beforehand.

'As you can see…' he began

'Due to the Space bridge malfunction caused by the  _Lightning Strike Coalition Force Leader_ , designation;  _Grimlock_ , we have teleported to the wrong destination, it is explainable if we are to theorize that the pulse generators in the Ark matched the same vibrations which the Space Bridge produced, we can use the…'

'Get to the point Perceptor' ordered Sideswipe who was losing his patience.

Perceptor mouthed an "Ok" and skipped through his notes

'Teletraan has been able to locate and scan the world upon crash, interestingly enough the world is filled with organic materials consisting mainly of plant life'

Jetfire gave Perceptor a look to stop rambling and to get back on track causing the scientist to throw his arms into the air in frustration.

'Anyways… when Teletraan finished its scanning it returned with some… interesting finds.'

'What did it find?' asked Jazz

Perceptor began moving the holograms with his fingertips, enlarging on the image of the planet and zooming into the crust, revealing a familiar energy reading.

'The Planet appears to be seeded with Energon; apparently our target planet wasn't the only one that held the energy to sustain us, or our prisoners'

'Prisoners?' Ironhide asked with a concerned look 'What do you mean by prisoners?'

'Did Warpath not mention?' asked Jetfire raising both brows.

'Mention what? I don't get it.'

'We got the whole Decepticon ground force locked up in the Basement' said Sideswipe who was happily spinning a ring of keys on his index finger.

'What?!'

Sideswipe smugly placed the keys onto his belt and clasped his hands together 'When the Ark Crashed, we had the Decepticon forces at our mercy, turns out without their big bad warship they aren't as tough.'

Ironhide looked as though he were going to vomit 'And we're just leaving them down there?!'

'Don't worry Ironhide; they are in maximum security' assured Jetfire 'all of them have been tied up with laser shackles, even the Cassetticons'

'But what if-'

'It's  _maximum security_ ' Jetfire repeated himself thoroughly.

Ironhide still didn't like the sound of it, but he knew he wouldn't have a say in it even if he pleaded.

'Well then this is great' exclaimed Cliffjumper, trying to brighten the situation.

'And why would you say that?' asked Perceptor plainly.

'Don't you see? We've won! We got pretty much every Decepticon in our hands, we landed on a planet that has Energon, and Ironhide has only punched ONE person today. What could be better?'

Jetfire and Perceptor exchanged some nervous glances before turning back to the horned bot.

Cliffjumper's expression lowered.

'…there's a catch isn't there.'

Perceptor rubbed the back of his neck 'I'm afraid that the Energon on this planet is different from our own. While our Energon is consumed only by that of Cybertronian design, this Energon is consumed by the plant life, and is then apparently consumed by the wild life and so on. It is unknown if we would even be able to use it for ourselves, let alone process it to repair the Ark. Jazz, Jetfire and I have planned a scouting mission to examine the planet, but besides that we are  _stuck_ so to speak'

Cliffjumper crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side.

'Oh so what you mean is…'

'What he means is' interrupted Sideswipe 'We are on some random planet in the corner of the map, more than half of the crew is dead, we got an army of Decepticons locked up beneath us, the Ark is trashed, we have no Energon and we don't even know where Optimus is.'

Primes name had caught the immediate attention of Ironhide.

'What was that?'

'Oh, yeah sorry big guy' Sideswipe wore a goofy grin as he scratched the back of his head 'I hate to sound like Huffer but-'

Ironhide waved a hand in denial 'No ,not that!' he shook his head and held out his arms for confirmation.

'You said we don't know where Prime is, meaning… we don't have a body?'

'Well no but-'

'I believe it was Blades.' said a nodding Jetfire, '…who reported that Optimus was sucked through the portal intact.' 'But even then we aren't certain if he survived to make it to the other side or not.'

'Now I mat be wrong...' Ironhide's voice was begining to rise 'But are you telling me we are just giving up on him?'

Jazz placed a warm hand on Ironhide's shoulder 'It's not that Hide; we all care about Prime…'

Ironhide jabbed a finger at the ground 'Then why are we sitting on our afts  _here'_ He then pointed at the hologram 'when we should be out  _there_  searching for him Jazz?'

 'He's probably on the planet somewhere, heck he couldn't have landed far…'

'Ironhide…' Perceptor spoke with a softer tone 'I don't believe space bridge technology works that way. The Decepticon's ship isn't even in the planet's atmosphere meaning- Well, this has lead us to believe Prime, -as well as Megatron and his ship- could be anywhere in the galaxy right now.'

'I can't believe this!' Ironhide's optics darted across the room for a sign of agreement. 'Silverbolt, you've got to have a say in this don't you?'

Silverbolt merely shrugged without looking up.

Ironhide was furious. Something had to be done, they had to at least  _try_  to find Prime.

'I've had enough of this crap.' Ironhide waved his hand in the air and stormed towards the door.

'Ironhide wait!' Jetfire called but the door shut before he could hear him.

The room went silent until the moment Perceptor cleared his throat.

'Well I assume that concludes today's meeting' the scientist announced with a nod.

Not a good first meeting in Jetfire's book, he wanted to get his mind off of it and get on with the mission, but first…

'Sideswipe, could you go check on the prisoners, Air Raid's shift ended fifteen minutes ago'

Sideswipe shaped his fingers as a pair of imaginary guns and aimed them at Jetfire.

'Will do'

Jetfire turned to Perceptor.

'Are you prepared to begin the mission?' Perceptor asked.

'Of course, I have already selected a team to investigate on the ground while Silverbolt and I watch from the air'

'Ah excellent, I will be monitoring your progress through a clutch drone while you work'

'Understood'

Jetfire began typing a mental message in his discussion of what had been said in the meeting, only perhaps without all the fits and fists. The message would be sent to every Autobot on board, just to clear things up without having to stand up in front of them. Perhaps he should address the disappearance of Optimus Prime, or maybe it would be for the better that he didn't. He  _did_  however promise that a funeral will be made for those who were now "one with the Matrix."  _That sounds good enough_ , he thought.

'So how does it feel?'

Jetfire looked down to spot Cliffjumper who was looking back up at him with a wide grin.

'Excuse me?'

'How does it feel to be leader for a change?'

Jetfire groaned 'I'm not the leader Cliffjumper, never was. Now go gear up, we will be rolling out in 5,'

Cliffjumper walked away while waggling a finger in a taunting manner. 'Whatever you say boss'

Jetfire was no leader, he had the highest rank next to Perceptor, but he knew that he couldn't just pick up where Optimus left off, besides, there was already someone to pick up in case Prime died, and that bot had been long gone for decades.

Jazz shook a daydreaming Silverbolt by the shoulder 'You okay Bolt? We're rolling out soon enough, or well in your case…'

Silverbolt looked up with barely a care.

'I'm fine Jazz. Just… fine, Thanks'

'If you say so…'

* * *

_Warpath_

In the hallway, Warpath was scratching an Autobot symbol into the side of the wall with his knife when Ironhide passed by, he had his jaws clenched together and his fingers digging into his palms, Warpath could see his body expanding and retracting as the older bot breathed heavily in and out of his nostrils.

'Ironhide, wait up.' He called, but Ironhide made no response.

He called again 'Ironhide!' The red bot stopped and held himself into place, he spoke in a grim voice without looking back.

'What do you want kid?'

Warpath took a moment to lower his voice so that he wouldn't anger the animalistic bot any further 'What happened in there? You look like you just beat the crap out of Cliffjumper… oh-oh god please tell me you didn't.'

'I didn't.' Ironhide slowly began to raise his voice 'it just seems like I'm the only one that cares about the wellbeing of Optimus around here!'

Warpath could have easily guessed what was going to come next.

'Well, what are you gonna do about it?'

'I'm going to go look for him of course'

Ironhide turned around. 'You're coming with me aren't you?'

Warpath stared at him in shock, he never thought he would be asked to ditch the Autobots, and especially not by Ironhide of all bots.

'C'mon you said it yourself, they don't want ya here because you're just a soldier' Ironhide grinned

'Oh that… I was just a little angry since I lost my cannon is all' Warpath laughed nervously, Ironhide could see right through Warpath and shrugged.

'Suit yourself'

As Ironhide transformed into truck mode, Warpath thought to himself. What if Prime is out there? What if having Prime around again would change things for the better? The Autobots were nothing without him, and that last meeting confirmed it, maybe Optimus was exactly what the Autobots needed. He realized that if he stayed where he was, he would just blend in with the crowd and be another generic. This was his time to be something more than just another soldier; this was his chance to make a change, worth a shot right?

'Hey Ironhide, wait up!'

* * *

_Meanwhile outside the planets solar system_

_The Nemesis: Bridge_

_Thundercracker  
_

Thundercracker's optics were shut, his hand against his forehead as he tried to drain out the sound of his two fellow Seekers arguing.

'What are you talking about?' yelled a frustrated Skywarp, 'We still have the Energon, we can launch some search parties, find them, there is no way we are all that's left'

Dirge frowned at him with his arms crossed.

'You saw what the spacebridge did to their ship; no one could have survived that.'

Skywarp began to panic, 'But-But Megatron, Soundwave, Rumble, and-and the Combaticons, everyone … they couldn't have just  _DIED!_ '

Dirge turned his head and scoffed 'All that matters to me is that we're alive, the Autobots aren't, end of story'

Skywarp stared at the palms of his hands, he couldn't believe what he was hearing; he never envisioned the end of the war like this, not with every ground based Decepticon dead leaving the air force all on their own. He imagined Megatron standing at Nova point, giving some sort of speech, and then… then… hold on… then what?

'In that case… what happens now?' he asked quietly and calmly.

Dirge paused to think about it and rubbed his chin.

Thundercracker had to admit, he was surprised that Skywarp didn't talk on and on like the idiot he was. For the first time in his life, it appeared Skywarp had asked a valid question.

'I guess we should decide who the leader is now that Megatron is gone' replied Dirge

Thundercracker looked up at them; there was a long silence on the bridge. He looked back down below to see several other aerial Decepticons; they all had only just started to listen when leadership was brought up. Thundercracker was disgusted.

'Okay…' said Skywarp 'Who has the highest rank then?' As the black seeker turned his head from Thundercracker to Dirge for an answer, the blue and yellow cone headed seeker continuously opened his mouth to speak but closed it and continue to stroke his chin.

Thundercracker knew what Dirge said was potentially a bad idea, over half of the Decepticons wanted to be leader one way or the other, saying this at the bridge surrounded by tens of other Cons, was a probable riot waiting to happen. As for who had the highest rank; with Megatron dead it would be Starscream, but with Starscream on the run, next highest would be Shockwave… _except_ he was presumed dead after the spacebridge overloaded, Soundwave is considered dead as well, someone on board would have to take command. The Target Masters (minus Quake) could never lead; to him they were all delusional one way or the other, especially Cyclonus with his constant rambling. Considering they were the only other team with flight able combatants. The next highest in the chain of command would be..

'Us!'

Skywarp and Dirge focused their attention on Thundercracker

'What?' Skywarp looked at Thundercracker with a half smile.

'The Seekers, us, we have the highest rank of the Decepticons'

Skywarp flinched, then nodded 'Alright so who has the highest rank in the seekers' he asked

Thundercracker froze.

'Starscream' answered Dirge 'But he's not here right now so next in command would be… who?'

'Well technically there never was a second in command for the seekers' replied Thundercracker 'we never really got around to it since the Combaticons kind of…'

'Took the spotlight and left us as cannon fodder?' asked Skywarp.

'More or less' Thundercracker shrugged.

Skywarp let out a sigh and placed a hand over his optic ridge.

'I'll be honest; I don't really want to be a leader, it's not my thing. You want to lead Dirge?'

Dirge thought about it for a moment before answering, all he wanted was to put fear into the sparks of every Autobot, being the leader would surely help with the whole fear thing… but now that "every Autobot" was gone, it seemed like being a leader would just be liability after liability.

'Nah, not my thing either'

Thundercracker sighed.

'Well if none of us want to lead then what do we do?'

'Now that I think about it, I really don't see the point' replied Dirge. 'I mean what are we going to do?' he stuck his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the groups of Decepticons behind him 'Lead these guys to war with turbofoxs?'

'We still need to find a way back home' reminded Thundercracker 'or wherever we should be at least, we still need someone to take charge for at least a little while until we make our destination'

'Well we could lead them together' proposed Skywarp 'The four of us I mean'

'Four?' asked Dirge as he began counting heads

'Yeah Ramjet is still around right?'

Dirge shook his head 'Nah I saw the Autobots capture him before they all blew up'

'He got captured?!' asked a shocked Thundercracker 'How the hell was he captured, he was a Seeker, why didn't he fly back to the Nemesis with us?'

'He tried "Ramming a truck"' said Dirge casually 'Should've stayed doing what he was born to do instead…'

'Barrel rolling like a jet instead of Ramming like a Truck?' asked Skywarp

Dirge shook his head yet again 'Ramming Jets instead of trucks'

Thundercracker slapped himself in the face. He suddenly missed having Starscream call them" fools" at times like this

At that moment, a slim figure entered the bridge.

'Well, well look at this, the old gang is back together… almost'

The three seekers recognized the figure immediately; their mouths gaped open and their optics widened as the figure stepped closer to the trio.

'Oh hell what are you doing here?'

* * *

_Ark's Prison Block_

Deep within the Arks prison block, stacks of prison cells covered the walls making the once football field sized room into nothing more than a narrow hallway, Decepticons spat, spewed insults and screamed for attention, some whimpered and some were still just waking up from stasis, among those waking up from stasis, was the Decepticon communications officer Soundwave, tied to the wall of his cell by laser clamps… he assessed the situation.


	3. Banging your Head

_Soundwave_

Optic lenses struggled to open as crusted oil glued them shut. Peeling them open, Soundwave would groggily stretch his stiffened neck and crane his head from one side of the cell to the other.

In an instant Soundwave managed to assess the situation calmly and professionally; he was chained to the wall of his cell with a laser harness. That was obvious enough; it appeared there were other cells in the hallway as well, with each one holding a Decepticon within. He recalled the last orders given by Megatron near the end of the Ark assault,  _"All Decepticons attack, anyone found hiding on board the Nemesis will be executed immediately!"_ , Soon after he received those orders, Soundwave was shot in the back by the Autobot designate Scattorshot. Of course it was somehow more likely that he was shot by either a rampaging Quake or a hyper Misfire instead.

As he turned up his Audio receptors, he managed to overhear other Decepticons who were giving an Autobot guard a hard time.

'Hey, Hey Autobot, when I get outta here, I'm gonna rip out those pretty little wings of yours.'

'Oh really…? I'm flattered!' the guard replied sarcastically.

A second Autobot entered the hall, 'These guys giving you trouble Air Raid?' asked Sideswipe.

'Nah, they're all just jealous of my stellar looks' he gloated, pretending to brush dirt off his shoulder.

Sideswipe grinned 'Sure Air Raid, but they're the ones to talk; I would absolutely _hate_  to look like some of these guys.'

He pointed at the closest cell 'I mean look at him, who in their right mind would wear a cone for a helmet.'  
Air Raid squinted at the Decepticon in question and tapped Sideswipe on the shoulder.

'Wait a minute Sideswipe, isn't that Ramjet? You know, the one that tried ramming Hotspot during the Ark Assault?

Sideswipe brought his head closer and squinted at the black and white seeker that was hunched over in the cell. He brought his head back up and placed his hands on his hips.

'Hah you're right, hey cone-head, why are you ramming trucks instead of _ramming jets_  eh? Hahah'

Ramjet slowly tilted his head up and scowled at the red Autobot car. 'S-Shut your face Autobot' he spat.

Air Rais feasted his optics on another cell and laughed.  
'Sideswipe, you think he has an odd head, check this guy's head out.'

Sideswipe jogged over and peered into the cell Air Raid had in question. Inside the cell was a short green Decepticon tied to the wall in a laser harness. The Decepticons body was practically nothing more than a head. He had long bulky arms that were longer than his "body", his legs were stubby and cylindrical and he had two purple planks coming out of his back.

'Ahahahah what the frag are you supposed to be?' Sideswipe taunted while pointing a finger nearly within the bars of the cage.

'The names Dirt Boss pal, remember it cus it's the last thing you're gonna hear when I stick these planks up your-'

'Ah, shut up con, you've got nothing new to say to me.' Sideswipe replied with an unenthusiastic wave.

Dirtboss gritted his teeth together in rage 'Hey I wasn't finished with you buddy!' Dirt Boss called out, but Sideswipe was already speaking with Air Raid, completely oblivious to the fact.

'Alright, I'm heading up; been getting sick of being down here' Air raid spoke while glaring at loud mouthed cons like Breakdown and Motormaster who had no doubt been taunting him for the past hour. 'I might Join up with Jetfire and the others to get some fresh air' Air Raid looked over at the vacuum lift. 'That is if they haven't gotten too far ahead already'

'Aww don't you want to listen to these cons "compliments"?' joked Sideswipe.

Air Raid laughed.

'Listen to these guys for five minutes and you will be banging your head against the wall just to drone them out.'

'Hah you wish. My feelings don't get hurt as easily as yours do ya pansy.'

Air Raid laughed again and entered the elevator lift leaving Sideswipe alone with the caged Decepticons.

The red Autobot placed his hands behind his back and marched down the hall, inspecting through each of the cages as if he were giving an examination. The Decepticons barked and spat at him as if they were caged dogs at a pound.

  
He stopped at the last cell at the end of the hallway and smiled, it was Soundwave's cell.

'Well, well, look who finally woke up.'

Soundwave remained silent

Sideswipe paced from the left to the right of the cell as he spoke 'We go way back yeah? Back with Zeta Prime and the Kaon prison break, we totally kicked your aft too, even when you had your little buddies to protect you.'

Soundwave remained silent

The red bot leaned in and cupped his hand around his audio receptor 'What? Too broken hearted to say anything? Or are you just the uncharismatic bore everyone says you are?'

The Decepticons began to roar louder.

'Hey you can't talk to Soundwave like that!'

'Yeah no one calls Soundwave unkrasimatic'

'Are you going to take that Soundwave?'

While most Decepticons thought of Soundwave as a creep, a boogieman, a suck up, and a nerd, Soundwave had never objected to, or insulted any of them. In fact, whenever they would be in trouble with Megatron, Soundwave would sometimes save their afts by making some sort of excuse or blaming it on Starscream so that Megatron wouldn't kill them for insubordination (Starscream wouldn't have been as thrilled).

Seeing Soundwave being badmouthed got into their processors, their moral codes were screaming at them to make up for all the times Soundwave  _didn't_  rat them out, something that wasn't common within the Decepticon army.

Soundwave remained silent.

'Huh maybe your little birdy will talk for you.'

Sideswipe opened a nearby cell and took out a laser bird cage holding Laserbeak within.  
He showed off Laserbeak to Soundwave proudly as if Laserbeak were his prized pet as a way to get a reaction. It didn't work.

'I've got to admit when we were digging in your chest, we were surprised what we found. Among the tapes it turns out you got a freaking senator in there, who would have thought that's where Ratbat's brain module had been this whole time? Another mystery solved.'

Soundwave remained silent.

'Ah well, you aren't any fun Soundwave' Sideswipe threw Laserbeak's cage across the hall prompting the cassetticon to squawk in disapproval. Sideswipe began to walk away from the cell to put Laserbeak back in his cell rather than lying on the floor in his bird cage.

'A real shame too, I was looking forward to kicking your aft again'

Soundwave spoke

'All talk… no shock'

The Decepticons cheered.

'What was that?' Sideswipe asked as he spun himself around. The Autobot made his way back to the communications officer's cell, shocked by Soundwave's tone.

From when Sideswipe first entered the room, Soundwave had been planning how to escape. Now he just had to play with Sideswipes long enough to make the plan effective.

'You heard me Autobot'

Sideswipe cracked his knuckles 'Ah good I was hoping you would speak up so that we could have a little fun'

'First I want to ask you something Autobot'

'And what might that be' asked Sideswipe crossing his arms.

'Where's Sunstreaker?'

The cheers from the Decepticons began to slowly change into sounds of confusion.

Sideswipe was shocked speechless, his mouth hung open as a twitching feeling emerged in his optic. Soundwave was in full control now; he could read Sideswipe almost thoroughly. Sideswipe stepped towards the cell with a grimace on his face and whispered…

_'How the hell do you know about him?'_

Soundwave was glad that no one could see behind his faceplate; because behind the mask was a wide grin.

'Everyone knows the story, the Decepticon who obliterated an entire Autobot outpost all on his own, and the Autobot who was too busy mingling with femmes to protect his comrades.'

Sideswipe scowled, anger had overcome him and was finding it harder and harder to resist grabbing the laser bars of the cell.

Soundwave tilted his head to the side

' _That_ Autobot and  _that_  Decepticon are both in this room aren't they?'

'You spawn of a glitch, I'll SEND YOU TO THE PIT!'

Sideswipe grabbed the handle of a lever next to Soundwave's cell and pulled down, shutting off both the bars and the plasma clamps, thus causing Soundwave to fall to the floor on all fours. An energy blade slid out of Sideswipes wrist as he walked towards Soundwave. Clouded by rage, he raised the blade; he was prepared to finally avenge his brother, to finally kill the Con who had-

But Soundwave grabbed the blade

With a simple yet quick motion, Soundwave ripped off the red Autobot's arm from its socket and stabbed the Autobot in the chest with his own weapon.  
Sideswipe was too stunned to properly react, the Autobots had rarely seen Soundwave fight due to his commanding position, but what most seemed to forget, was that he was a once a gladiator in the pits of Kaon. He fell back and held onto the small cut, just as he got back up, Soundwave plunged the blade deeper into the wound, cutting through several important organs and wirings. Oil spewed from Sideswipes mouth like a waterfall of tobacco running down his severed arm and chin. His optics were slowly flickering, before losing his vision, the last thing Sideswipe saw was Soundwave's face, the Red visor over the blank faceplate, it was impossible to detect any emotion, but Sideswipe could have sworn he saw a smile.

Soundwave threw away the arm and grabbed Sideswipe from his back, every Decepticon was cheering as loudly as possible. Soundwave thrusted Sideswipes head against the far wall of the block like a battering ram, and again and again, and again each time making a louder sound as his skull hit the wall. And each time the crowd cheered louder.

* * *

Perceptor was sitting in his rolling chair; viewing a monitor above when Air Raid walked in. upon hearing his footsteps, Perceptor spun the chair around and greeted the Aerialbot with a smile.

'Ah Air Raid, how may I help you?'

BANG

'Just wondering if Jetfire has already left or not'

BANG

'I am afraid they left quite a while ago, you could probably meet them on the  
way back if you go now'

BANG

'Oh in that case why bother'

BANG

'I mean' he continued, 'why bother if I won't be able to help'

BANG

'I see your point Air Raid…'

BANG

'Yeah, is there anything you need help with Percy?'

BANG

'Yes actually, can you please investigate that banging sound, it sounds like it's coming from the cell block, it also sounds like the prisoners are becoming a tad more restless than usual.'

BANG

'Huh? I was just there. Ah well I'm sure Sideswipe can handle it whatever it is.'

BANG

'But just to be sure…'

* * *

BANG  
BANG  
CRACK  
BANG  
CRACK  
CRASH  
SPLATTER

Sideswipe's skull shattered after the last hit on the wall, chunks of metal that were once made up his helmet and even parts of his face were sent scattered around the floor with some stuck in the newly formed dent in the wall. Where his head used to be was a mangled mess of oil, Energon, and wires in a big lump of a deformed looking brain module.  
Soundwave reequipped his mask and looked around at the Decepticons cheering from their cells. They were chanting his name.

'SOUNDWAVE! SOUNDWAVE! SOUNDWAVE!'

As the Decepticons continued to cheer, Soundwave freed Laserbeak

'Laserbeak, free your brothers.'

Laserbeak squeezed through the bars of Rumble's cell and tore off the clamps; the two of them rescued Frenzy as well as the other blank tapes and returned back into Soundwave's chest.

Air Raid couldn't hear the banging anymore, but the Prisoners were still chanting. It became easier to distinguish what they were chanting now that the vacuum lift was closer to the cell block. Soundwave.  _Why are they chanting Soundwave's name?_  He wondered. He knew that Sideswipe would probably make fun of him for worrying, but it still wouldn't hurt to check.

Air Raid could see the floor of the cell block, where two figures stood. One looked like it was purple and red, the other looked blue. That didn't make any sense. The vacuum lift opened as it hit the floor, and once it did, Air raid could see everything. He saw Soundwave, standing there, arms and chest soaked in Energon, and he saw what was left of Sideswipe on the floor at the end of the hall, covered in a mix of his black oil and pink Energon leaving him soaked in his purple life blood, but more importantly to the Aerialbot; without a head.

Air Raid screamed.

Soundwave kicked Sideswipe's body towards Air Raid and stood in front of the dented wall.

'Don't move!' Air Raid screamed.

Soundwave did as he was told and stood motionless at the end of the hallway.

  
Regardless, plagued with fury, Air Raid transformed into his sleek jet mode and fired a barrage of missiles in Soundwave's direction. It was Soundwave's turn to transform as he converted into his Cybertronian truck mode and drove around the missiles unscathed. The missiles hit the dented wall causing it to collapse revealing a hole to the outside world. Soundwave nitro boosted his way out of the cell block and drove as fast away from the crashed Ark as he could. Without the signal jamming effect of the laser clamps, Soundwave could now send a distress signal.

'YEAH, GO SOUNDWAVE!'

Back in the cell block, Air Raid propped up the inactive body of Sideswipe and turned on his communicator.

'SOUNDWAVE WOOOH!'

'Somebody, anybody, I need help, it's Sideswipe he's… no Perceptor it's not... no I need… NO! I NEED RATCHET RIGHT NOW, GET RATCHET DOWN HERE NOW!'

* * *

_Cybertron_

_  
_ _Starscream_

'Shockwave, is that you?'

The energy signature Starscream had picked up turned out to be one of the last bots he wanted to see. Shockwave was fiddling with some sort of computer terminal before noticing Starscream in the corner of his optic. He was bruised and dented, but most of all he was missing his right arm entirely, dark purple wires sprouted from his shoulder as he worked with his left arm doing all the work.

He spoke without looking up from his work 'Ah Starscream, I see that you are still on Cybertron'

'I'm not the only one… obviously. What are you doing Shockwave?'

'I am currently trying to reconnect my link to the Insecticon hives.'

Starscream raised his upper lip in disgust 'Would you please remind me why you would you want those disgusting creatures running around Kaon again?'

Shockwave raised his hand for a moment to make a peace sign. 'Two reasons Starscream: One, we need building materials to repair the space bridge. Two, I am lacking Energon and an arm as you can already see' He pointed to his leaking shoulder where his arm should be, 'I am intending to get the Insecticons to retrieve my blast cannon and to also…'

Shockwave paused.

'What, what is it?'

'Due to my low Energon levels and the lack of any other beings on the planet, I have come to the logical solution that  _cannibalism,_ would be the best course of action to ensure my survival'

'What?' Starscream always knew it, Shockwave was insane.

Starscream rubbed his forehead nervously 'Are you proposing that we… that we... EAT each other?'

Shockwave nearly made a groan from Starscream's lack of intelligence

'Not each other, no, just the Insecticons'

Starscream threw his hands into the air 'Oh yes and that makes it  _much_  better!'

'"We"'

Starscream paused 'What?'

'"We" will not consume the Insecticon's Energon, just myself. You are still a traitor Starscream, and I will report you to Megatron as soon as I have the Space Bridge reactivated. And second I  _will_  be consuming the Insecticons lifeblood, but not in the way you think, first we will leech them dry of their Energon, this will require a tool from my la-'

Starscream cocked his rifle at Shockwave's head

'… Predictable'

* * *

_Nemesis_

_  
_ _Thundercracker_

Thundercracker felt like he was losing brain cells just standing on the Bridge with these idiots.

'So let me get this straight' he began 'Our impregnable warship, which - besides the tow cable exits- only has one entrance, guarded by some of our top ranked soldiers who have been trained to resist any kind of torture, just let you in because you asked nicely?'

'Yup that just about sums it up'

Thundercracker flung his arms to either side of him and shouted  
'HOW?!'

The slim figures hands moved straight up to their audio receptors  
'Ow, Ow, Ow, Primus, Ow, you don't have to yell you know?'

Dirge put his hand over his (cone) forehead.  
'Just tell us what you want.' He begged, wanting to get their facts straightened

'No… Thundercracker has to apologize first'

Thundercracker was annoyed. He jabbed a finger at the figures face and spoke in a quieter tone.  
'Just what, the hell, should I apologize for?'

The figure moved closer to Thundercracker and whispered

'Apologize for raising your voice like a freaking aft'

Thundercracker stepped back and shot the figure a confused glance 'How old are you? You are acting like a sparkling for Primus sake'

'C'mon Thunders' pleaded Dirge with an annoyed tone 'just say you are sorry so we can all get this over with'

Skywarp scratched the back of his head  
'Yeah you  _are_  kind of being an aft to our guest Thundercracker'

'Yeah Skywarp's right you  _are_  an aft' added the "guest"

Thundercracker snarled

'This isn't our "guest" this is an intruder, this "guest" of ours abandoned the Decepticons a millennia ago, and only now does this traitor come back?'

The guest gasped,  
'That hurts Thundercracker… that hurts right in the spark.'

'Oh for… alright, alright I'm sorry. Now can we…'

'No, that wasn't a proper apology'

_I must be going insane,_   thought the Seeker.  
Thundercracker faked a wide smile and spoke with his teeth grinding together  
'Then what would be a proper apology might I ask?'

'Okay repeat after me'  
'Got it'  
'I am so very sorry'  
'I am so very sorry'  
'I am a complete and utter aft'  
'Sigh, I am a complete and utter aft'  
'So please forgive me your highness.'  
'So please forgive me your highness.'

The guest clapped. 'Great job, Bravo'

'So uh, what are you- you know- doing here anyway?' asked Skywarp

'Well, I noticed that you guys are lacking a good leader considering how good old Megatron is nowhere to be found and Shockwave is somewhere on Cybertron correct?

'Yeah that's right. How did you know?' asked Dirge

The guest smiled and raised an index finger 'Let's just say I keep in touch'

Dirge crossed his arms and frowned 'So then what's your point, spit it out.'

'I think I can put you guys in the right direction, you don't have many options anyways. The past millennia I have been travelling the galaxy, I know it inside and out and even further. So if you would allow me to warm the space as leader for the time being, at least until we can find good old Megsy, then I would be ever so grateful.'

The guest turned to Thundercracker and smiled.  
'Thundy here can vouch for me, right pal? Besides I have a great resume.'

Dirge turned to Thundercracker who solemnly nodded in agreement.  
Thundercracker knew the guest better than most; they used to work together with Starscream, Skywarp and Jetfire protecting the Dark Energon, and served in the air force before that. The guest was the first to join the Decepticons before he and the others made their deal with Megatron later in the war. It wasn't until he fought alongside the guest when he realized the potential that was shown. The guest had proven to be able to calculate battle strategies in almost any situation in an instant and could make logic based choices that would make even Shockwave jealous. He hated to admit it but their guest was far more fit to lead than the three of them combined.

'What? This is ridiculous' Dirge put himself in front of the guest and pointed aggressively. 'You are completely delusional; you wouldn't be able to lead ant-droids to a picnic, what makes you think you would be able to lead the Decepticon army.'

The guest chuckled  
'Touching  _Megatron class humor_  Dirge, but I believe that it has been already decided that I should be in charge.' The guest turned back, away from Dirge and walked to the other side of the bridge. 'Besides I don't think you would fare too well against me.'

Dirge slowly walked towards the guest, his arm transformed into nucleon charge rifle, he aimed it at the guests back.  
'Death comes to he who crosses Me.' he muttered before squeezing the trigger.

'Dirge wait!' Thundercracker called reaching out for the Seeker.

The guest spun around and pointed an EMP shotgun at Dirge  
'Good thing I'm not a  _he_  then' the guest replied while firing a crater into Dirge's chest

Dirge was flung across the room from the blast and landed to the ground with a thud, a large smoking black hole now in his cockpit. The Guest skipped over to Dirge's body happily and cocked the gun at his head to finish the job. Several Decepticons were running around in panic, not sure what to do.

'Slipstream wait, please don't kill him!'

  
The guest, Slipstream, looked at Thundercracker and smiled, her arm transformed back to normal as she skipped towards him.

'Fine, fine, but only because you said my name so lovingly'

Thundercracker groaned, wishing he intervened.

Skywarp yelled into a communicator  
'Someone get a medical team up here stat'

Thundercracker rolled his optics 'Skywarp we don't have any medical teams, I'm the only medical officer on board anymore remember?'  
Skywarp carelessly dropped the communicator.

'Oh.'

Thundercracker sighed  
'Well I wouldn't worry too much about it this is Dirge we're talking about after all. He always gets better.'

Two of the Target-Master's named Needlenose and Spinister barged onto the bridge carrying assault rifles. Needlenose had the Transformation of a Cybertronian jet. He had a chrome chestplate, with purple arms, blue legs, and a pair of silverwings that rested with his cockpit on his back. He had a yellow faceplate that covered his mouth while his silver helmet resembled that of a medieval night's. Spinister was somewhat bulkier than his more skinny cohart and had the ability to Transform into a Cybertronian helicopter. His bulky upper body was mainly purple while his lower body and legs were blue and made up the cockpit of the helicopter. He too had a faceplate however his was blue and his helmet was black.  

'What happened? We heard a gunshot is everything alright?' asked Needlenose

Slipstream struck a pose in which she pointed at the ceiling dramatically.  
'Ah yes, witness your new leader as she has defeated a traitor easily in honourable comba-'

'But Slipstream, didn't you just shoot him in the chest' Skywarp interrupted

Slipstream scowled 'Shut up you idiot, how am I supposed to make an example like that?'

Thundercracker cleared his throat and walked over to the two target masters.  
'Uh, look guys everything is fine, we just had a bit of a misunderstanding, you can go back to your posts if you want.'

Needlenose kicked the door frame. 'Slag, I was hoping I would be able to shoot somebody for once.'

Needlenose's fit was ignored as Spinister observed Slipstream. 'That our new leader?' he asked.

Thundercracker sighed. Some Decepticons were picking up Dirge and dragging him to a med bay while Slipstream continued to berate Skywarp.  
'Yeah she is now, I'm afraid that if you got a problem with it you're gonna have to shoot her to get some attention'

'Is she better than Starscream?'

'Yeah I would think so.'

Spinister shrugged. 'Whatever, that's good enough for me, let's go Needlenose'

Needlenose turned to Spinister in disbelief.

'What? That's it? You are okay with giving leadership to some stranger with weird shapes on their bod-'

'Hold on' Thundercracker interrupted 'Is Cyclonus alright? I haven't seen him around all that much lately.'

'If you would consider rambling on like a maniac as okay, then yeah I guess he's just fine' replied Spinister

Needlenose looked annoyed.  
'Hey, I was talking to you guys, don't just ignore me!'

But Spinister was already walking out the door, Needlenose chased after him. Not long after, Thundercracker left the bridge as well to tend to Dirge leaving Slipstream and Skywarp.

The Bridge was a lot quieter without the commotion, or to Skywarp it was at least.

Slipstream had begun typing something into a computer terminal. With no one else in the room to talk to, Skywarp felt an awkward feeling come over him as he began to actually _want_  to talk to the con that shot one of his best friends in the chest only moments ago.

'So uh, what are you doing Slipstream?'

'I am currently attempting to locate where our Decepticon brothers are…'

'Hah good luck with that!'

Slipstream faced Skywarp 'Why? What makes the survival of half our army so unlikely?'

'They were all aboard the Ark, we fliers were all able to get back into the Nemesis, but the ground team was absolutely torn to bits'

Slipstream grinned slyly 'How much you want to bet at least one is still alive'

'Heh I like you as leader already. 5,000 Shanix says they are all dead.'  
Slipstream tapped a key on the terminal. A hologram of Soundwave's head appeared.

_'Attention to any Decepticons receiving this frequency, this is Soundwave. The Autobots are still alive; I have been captured along with the rest of the ground force. Only now have I escaped their prison, I am uploading my coordinates to the Nemesis computer now.'_

Skywarp turned to Slipstream with wide optics whereas Slipstream held out her hand

'Told you so, now about that 5,000 Shanix…?'

* * *

_Unknown location_

_Jetfire_

Jetfire flew above the tree canopies where the miles and miles of jungle were for him to see. Floral shaped patterns lined the rustling treetops as small mammals scurried through the giant green leaves. Wind blew through the trees creating a soothing rustling sound and slightly perturbing the mammals within. Jetfire used to explore planets just like these with Starscream back before the war; he found it nostalgic to fly above all the organic materials, unfortunately the memory of Starscream alone made him sick. Silverbolt flew next to him with a clutch drone stuck on his cockpit; unfortunately he didn't seem to be very thrilled with the sights of the new planet as much as Jetfire was. Jazz was swinging from tree to tree with his grapple while driving below was Cliffjumper leading the ground group, consisting of, Wheeljack, The white and brown motorcycle Protectobot Groove, The black and red sports car, Bluestreak, and the red and yellow speedster, Hotshot.

'Wheeljack, are you detecting anything down there?' asked Jetfire via communicator

'Not yet Jets, so far the only thing I have been picking up are really low amounts of Energon held in these trees'

'So-'

'Yeah pretty useless I know'

'Alright, if you run into any trouble, do not engage until Jazz, Silverbolt and I are on the ground.'

'Don't worry Jetfire' assured Cliffjumper 'we could probably take care of it ourselves'

'Yeah, don't sweat it' said an enthusiastic Hotshot. 'Any cons show up and we'll teach 'em a lesson not to screw with us.'

Wheeljack groaned

'It's not Decepticons we're worried about kid, it's the wildlife we should be afraid of, besides shouldn't you be back at the Ark? I don't believe you were chosen to come along with the rest of us'

'Relax Jack' said Jazz as he grappled to another tree branch right above them 'He wanted to come along so I figured, why not?'

'I don't know Jazz' Hotshot sounded somewhat frustrated 'I mean this isn't exactly the best place to drive, the mud keeps getting in my tires and the road is filled with bumps and potholes, couldn't we have found a flatter road to drive on?'

'Oh boohoo' taunted Cliffjumper, 'not all planets have roads you know, we are lucky to have room to drive at all.'

Bluestreak drove up next to Hotshot to give some sympathy 'Actually I heard that somewhere there is a planet completely devoted to roads and racing, apparently it has been colonized by us Autobots so it may even be…'

'Guys hush up for a second' interrupted Jetfire' I'm receiving a call from Perceptor, it sounds urgent.'  
 _  
'Jetfire, are you there?'!_

'I read you Perceptor, what's the problem?'

_'Well I have terrible news and… probably not good news'_  
  
'What's the terrible news?'

_'Soundwave has escaped; it looks like Sideswipe tried to stop him but… I'm sorry Jetfire'_

_Oh Primus_

'What happened?'  
 _'Soundwave was more brutal than what we are used to… I'm sorry'_

'Sideswipe's… dead?'

All the other Autobots stopped driving and listened.

_'No… not yet anyway, Ratchet's doing all he can to save him but, his head…'_

'I don't want to hear it right now Perceptor, what is the, er probably not good news?'  
 _  
'I am picking up a strange energy signature nearby your current location, it may not be friendly'_

'Noted'

Perceptor hung up without saying another word.

'Jetfire, Sideswipe's…?'

'No Cliffjumper, thank Primus no, but Perceptor has doubts, and you know that's not a good sign when _he_  of all bots is doubting something.'

'Well if anyone can do it its Ratchet, right?' asked Hotshot

'In the condition he's in now?' said Wheeljack glumly. 'I don't know if you guys have seen Ratchet but he's a complete mess after Bumblebee…'

'We don't need any o' that negativity Wheeljack' snapped Jazz 'I'm sure Sideswipe is going to be fine'

'Jetfire' said Groove 'Do you want me to head back? I am sure I can help in some way with Sideswipes recovery'

Jetfire thought about it for a moment before answering

'Alright, head back and help with Ratchet and the others, the rest of you, stay on guard, Perceptor said that an energy signature was nearby so be prepared for anything'

After Groove drove off, Wheeljack's scanner beeped.

'Um guys, it looks like something is heading towards us'

'What? What it?' asked Jetfire

'I'm thinking it could be a bunch of flesh eating monsters… or just a flock of birds… just a flock of flesh eating monster birds.'

'You're overreacting Wheeljack, worst case scenario it'll be a bunch of Elephants, there is no way we will come by and flesh eating monsters, or bir-'

Before anyone could respond a scream escaped Silverbolt's lips, a giant metal bird like creature seemingly appeared out of nowhere and had scooped up Silverbolt in its mouth, crushing his body with its jaw. As the bird bit down, a hideous crunching sound came from Silverbolt's armor plating.

'Autobots open fire!' ordered Jetfire

'A flesh eating monster bird, what did I say? What the  _hell_  did I say. I was freaking right!' Wheeljack shouted.

The four Autobot cars transformed and fired at the beast, Bluestreak and Wheeljack fired their shoulder mounted missiles at the creature, leaving only a few burn marks on the bird monster's metal skin. The creature beaded his large wings and flew backwards by a few meters before spitting up Silverbolt's crunched up Jet mode.

Bluestreak held out his arms as he watched Silverbolt fall

'Don't worry Silverbolt I'll catch you I-'

Silverbolt landed on top of Cliffjumper crushing the smaller Autobot beneath his weight..

'Oops… er thanks Cliffjumper, you're a pal!' The Red Autobot wiggled his arm out from under Silverbolt and shook it's fist at Bluestreak.

Jetfire flew around the creature and fired a barrage of bullets out of the machine gun's on his Jet-mode while Jazz attempted to snipe at the monster's wings from a tree.

'It looks like we got him on the ropes guys' said Hotshot, firing from his path blaster 'just a bit longer and I think it'll be over'

Hotshot spoke too soon. As two more monsters crashed through the trees and charged at the Autobots with their massive jaws wide open.


	4. Extensive Modifications

_Outside the Ark: 20 minutes earlier_

_Warpath_

'You sure you got everything you need Warpath?'

Warpath groaned impatiently 'Yeah, yeah I'm ready.'

Ironhide and Warpath stood outside the crashed Ark, both with pistols, grenades and Energon knives strapped to their belts and connected ammo rounds draped over their shoulders. They both carried a pair of assault rifle's that were strapped to their backs in case -as Ironhide put it- something  _ugly_ came along.

'You're sure? Cause if you start complaining about not having enough ammo, I aint turning back.'

'I'm ready Ironhide' Warpath stressed, 'let's just get a move on'

Ironhide shrugged his broad shoulder's 'If ya say so'

A bright light peeked between the swaying tree leaves above and shone into Warpath's optics, he quickly raised his hand to shield them from the light. He came to vaguely remember one of Perceptor's lectures about how organic planets had a star to grant them energy, in other words a sun. He looked around, the Jungle-like landscape was green and vivid and the way the sun reflected off the trees gave off an odd aura, something Warpath enjoyed. Warpath never knew what the word for it was, but what he was seeing in front of him was what would be considered  _Beautiful_.

'Warpath!' bellowed Ironhide 'I thought you said you wanted to get a move on?'

Warpath woke up from his daydream to find Ironhide had already progressed ahead of him, glaring at him impatiently, was he really that absorbed by the beauty of the planet for that long?

'Sorry about that Ironhide, wait up okay?'

_This planet really is great_ he thought.

* * *

_Outside the Ark: Now_

_This planet really does suck_ , Wheeljack thought. Two more metallic monsters, roughly the size of Grimlock's Tyrannosaurus mode had burst out of the jungle; one of them was black and oozing a grotesque orange liquid from its pores, leaving a terrible stench in the air, while the other resembled a white and blue shark with arms and legs.

Wheeljack sprinted over to Silverbolt who, in jet mode, looked as if he were a pencil that was chewed on by a toddler.

'Silverbolt, you still alive?' Wheeljack asked, unsure if he was using the right tone for the question.

_'Mm- fin'_

'What?'

'I'm fine!'

Wheeljack sighed in relief.

'Okay can you still transform?'

Silverbolt's body began to steadily change shape, but stopped when the pain became too overwhelming.

'Ah… no, can't transform'

'Relax Silverbolt; we will get you out of here.'

'NO! No running you need to help the others.'

Wheeljack turned around to see that Silverbolt was right, more right than he would have wanted. Bluestreak was being eaten legs first by the Shark monster.

'Argh, PRIMUS!' He yelled as the monster's jaws munched down on his waist. Just as the monster opened his mouth to bite down on his chest, Jetfire fired a missile into the creature's face causing it to spit up Bluestreak. Bluestreak had fallen chest first on the ground; his legs –while still intact- were mangled and twisted by the sharks' teeth.

'Hold on Bluestreak I gotcha' Wheeljack dragged Bluestreak over to Silverbolt and away from the action.

Bluestreak grabbed his leg in pain. 'Argh... y'know, this isn't half bad, at least it's only my legs and not my entire body, now  _that_  would suck.'

'Yes... yes it would...'

The black and red car turned his head to Silverbolt who was dented, bruised, and battered all over.

'Oh, sup Silverbolt.'

Cliffjumper and Hotshot fired at the monsters as they advanced, the monsters were slow, but they seemingly made up for that in terms of size and armor as the Autobots weapons didn't seem to do much, if anything, to hurt them.

'Guys watch out!' warned Jetfire.

The avian creature had swooped down and scooped up Hotshot with its tooth filled beak, it then ascended, and slashed at Jetfire with its talons.

'Somebody help!' Hotshot screamed, it wasn't just that he was stuck in a monsters mouth about a mile off the ground, the monsters teeth were also digging into his body. It felt like he was being stabbed by several tiny knives simultaneously.

Cliffjumper stopped what he was doing and fired at the flier holding Hotshot.

'Don't worry kid, I'll get him' as he fired at the sky he felt a shadow overcome him. He turned around to see the black monster looming over him. While Cliffjumper was frozen in shock, the monster opened its jaws and grabbed Cliffjumper's whole upper body with its mouth.

'Oh hell no!'

  
Jazz grappled onto the beasts head and pulled Cliffjumper out of its mouth as it struggled. Jazz had apparently thrown Cliffjumper away as the next thing Cliffjumper remembered after being stuck in the creature's slimy mouth was hitting the ground with his aft. Something didn't feel quite right. Cliffjumper looked around dizzily, he saw Jetfire fighting the avian creature holding Hotshot in its beak, he saw Wheeljack and a crippled Bluestreak firing upon the Shark creature, and he saw Jazz trying to ride on the creatures head. … He then looked down at his upper body; it was all rust coloured from his head down to his waist. He held up his hands and watched in horror as they began to crumble leaving only his stick-like skeletal infrastructure underneath. The black creature was excreting corrosive slime.

'Alright time for a lesson of how to take down a Bruticus 101' anouncee Jazz as he began shooting the beast in the face repeatedly with his Scatter blaster.

The corrosive beast began trying to grab at him with its thick arms much to Jazz's amusement

'Hah you want a piece of me eh? You want a piece?'

'No Autobot' the black corrosive monster spoke.

'I want two pieces.'

Catching Jazz off guard, the black creature grabbed the Autobot, holding his leg in one hand and his back with the other, he began to pull. As Jazz screamed, the creature tore his leg off from his waist. The monster looked at both pieces of Jazz and tilted it's head.

'Wuh? I should have torn off your whole waist by doing that' said the creature 'Oh well, second leg is worth the charm' before it could grab Jazz's other leg, Wheeljack had fired a second missile at the creatures hand forcing it to drop Jazz.

Above the fighting on the ground, Hotshot fired into the avian creature's eyes causing it to lose control; He pulled open the avian creature's beak and rolled out of its mouth. Hotshot realized it may have been a better plan if he was a few miles lower to the ground as he from where he was falling, he could see the tree canopies perfectly fine; he closed his eyes and braced for impact, however it did not come. He opened his eyes and looked up to find Jetfire holding him whilst hovering in robot mode.

'Retreat?' asked a dazed Hotshot

'Retreat…' confirmed Jetfire

After reattaching Jazz's leg with minimal effort, Wheeljack transformed to vehicle mode and transformed yet again as the vehicle began to expand, he grew into a boxier carrier with enough space to hold another Transformer inside of it. Silverbolt, who was still stuck in jet mode was placed inside along with Cliffjumper, whose arms had already broken off because of the rust. Hotshot and Jazz painfully transformed to vehicle modes to drive the slag out of there while Jetfire picked up Bluestreak to fly back to the Ark. Due to the lack of speed by the monsters, they were out of sight in mere seconds.

'What the slag were those things?' asked Jetfire

'They appeared to be the energy signature Perceptor picked up' said Wheeljack, 'do you think all the wildlife are like this?' he asked 'Because I think I speak for everyone when I say that would really suck,'

'That wasn't wildlife' said Jazz glumly 'That thing spoke to me, like a Cybertronian y'know?'

'I don't care what those things were' said Hotshot 'all I know is that I am _never_ leaving the Ark again, I mean just look at what the thing did to poor Cliffjumper'

Cliffjumper sat inside Wheeljack's carrier mode as he stared down at his body, his arms were gone and his chest was beginning to crumble, all he could manage was a whimper as he felt himself literally falling apart.

  
Jazz drove near Wheeljack to comfort his partner

'Don't worry Cliff; I'm sure Ratchet has some sort of cure for corrosive slime somewhere in his tool kit'

Wheeljack couldn't help but overhear Jazz, he already knew Ratchet didn't have any means of curing corrosive slime, but he figured it would be best not to tell them that at that moment.

'Alright guys' called Jetfire' It looks like we will be at the Ark in a few Nano-clicks'

Soon enough, the Ark was in view as expected. What they _didn't_ expect to see was someone there to greet them, as they got closer, the Autobots could clearly see what was waiting for them. It appeared to be a red and yellow bug like creature. With two scythes for hands, one was waving at them and the other was piercing through Groove's torso.

* * *

_The Ark's Medbay_

_Ratchet_

Fixit had buffed out the last dent on Hotspot and moved over to continue his work on Scattershot whose repairs were nearly complete.

In the Emergency room Ratchet scanned over Sideswipe for the third time, First Aid had his arms crossed as he watched the medical officer work.

'So?'

'So what?'

'What do we do?'

'I don't know'

First Aid shut his optics behind his visor and let out an irritated sigh.

'What do you _mean_ you don't know, you are "Chief Medical Officer: Ratchet" there has to be  _something_  you can do for Sideswipe!'

Ratchet raised his shaky hands in a pleading motion. 'You don't understand First Aid, Sideswipe's body can be repaired, but his brain module has been wrecked. When Soundwave broke Sideswipe's skull, pressure was put onto his brain... most likely caused by a solid object.'

'Like a wall...' First Aid concluded.

'Yes, yes, like a wall, several parts of his processor have been mangled beyond my ability to repair, and the dried oil that no one had bothered cleaning up has made it a lot more difficult for me.'

First Aid made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a laugh 'It's difficult? That's your excuse?'

Ratchet took in a deep breath, his spark buzzing in distraught 'The only things that keeps a Transformer alive are a spark and a brain module, Sideswipe's spark is keeping him alive however the brain module is only just clinging on. I haven't seen anyone in this condition since they started wheeling in patients from the gladiatorial games.'

First Aid stared blankly at Ratchet

'You're giving up.'

'I'm not giving up, it's just-'

First Aid jabbed a finger at Ratchet and raised his voice. 'It's just that you are! Fixit and I have been breaking our backs working, while you've been sitting around moping and mourning Bumblebee. I don't get it Ratchet; millions of Autobots have died during this war, I have felt each and every one of them but I am still doing my job properly! What makes Bumblebee so special from the other million that died? Is it because he was the only one that accepted you as a "friend?" is that it?'

Ratchet smacked First Aid across the face and pointed to the door.

'Get out, NOW!'

Fixit and Hotspot stared at the two as First Aid stormed out of the med bay.

Outside, Air Raid sat on a bench, he was twiddling his thumbs staring at the ground before he noticed First Aid walk by.

'Hey doc, how is he?'

First Aid kept walking as if he didn't hear him speak. The sulking Aerialbot lowered his head glumly and buried his face in his hands.

* * *

_Cybertron_

_Shockwave_

'You are going to serve me Shockwave, whether you like it or not.'

Shockwave should have prepared for this; despite the fact that he had labeled retrieving Energon as first priority, he should have planned out a way to eliminate any survivors who would threaten him. He thought about whether Megatron would understand if he joined with Starscream for the time being, of course, if he were to obtain his blast cannon, he would be able to eliminate Starscream before the incompetent Seeker knew it.

'You are running out of time Shockwave!'

Shockwave had to think fast, his best chance for survival was obvious; he had to cooperate with Starscream, for now at least.

'Very well, there should be plenty of Energon in the Insecticon's blood stream for both of us'

Starscream smiled.

'Now bow'

'You cannot be serious-'

'I said  _bow!'_

Shockwave sighed and reluctantly bowed to the Seeker.

Starscream let out a high pitched cackled and transformed his arm back to normal.

'Brilliant, now fill me in on what has happened to everyone would you?'

Shockwave looked up at his inactive spacebridge.

'I believe you are aware of my test subject Grimlock.'

Starscream rubbed the back of his neck and ran ah finger over the wound he had received from the Lightning Strike Coalition Commander.

'Yes, yes, I remember him quite fondly.'

'After Megatron boarded with nearly every battle squadron on the  
Nemesis, I monitored the spacebridge as we prepared for launch'

Realizing that Starscream did not require him to bow any longer, Shockwave paused, and brought himself back onto his feet.

'However I miscalculated my test subject's strength, it managed to destroy the majority of Decepticon forces in Kaon and overload the Spacebridge's energy levels. It resulted in an energy wave which decimated the brain modules of any other Decepticon above ground.'

'So everyone else is dead.'

'Correct'

Starscream stroked his chin.

'Very well then, would you please explain to me how _you_  of all Decepticons managed to survive Shockwave?'

Shockwave stared forward, taking a moment to think before answering the question.

'I have done… some extensive modifications in order to maintain my processor's functionality in case of an emergency.'

Starscream shrugged, he could tell Shockwave was hiding something but he barely cared to press on the subject.

'So what happens now?' he asked.

'As you are aware Starscream, neither of us have the ability to fly, my engine was broken as I fell from my tower, and it appears your wings have been damaged'

Starscream looked back at his wings and snarled.

'Yeah, so what's your point?'

'Either I give you my wings, or you allow me to do some surgery, and I take your jet engine'

'I don't want your ugly wings Shockwave.' He spat, disgusted by the idea.

Shockwave shrugged, and pulled out a laser scalpel from his waist.

'Surgery it is then.'

'NO, NO WAIT!'

* * *

_Nemesis_

_Thundercracker_

In the Nemesis med bay, filled with saws, drills and other surgery equipment, Thundercracker tended to Dirge, picking shrapnel out of the larger seeker's chest wound with thin metal stencils and scalpels. As he thought, the wound wasn't as bad as it looked. Dirge watched the monitor with disgust.

'I can't believe this; she is already redecorating the ship!'  
On the monitor, Slipstream was telling Needlenose and Spinister to place a throne in the middle of the bridge.

_'Over there, no wait too far, more on the left a bit, ah you idiots here let me show you'_

'Bah she is already treating us like trash too, I mean Megatron only started treating me like trash about a week after I joined, Starscream treated us like trash after a day, and now Slipstream is treating us all like trash after…'  
Dirge checked his chronometer on his wrist and looked back up 'twenty minutes'

'Whatever you say…' replied an uninterested Thundercracker.

Dirge glanced at Thundercracker with a frown. He spotted Dirge's glare in the corner of his optic and looked up.

'What?'

'You are actually okay with this aren't you?'

'It could be worse, there was Starscream after all'

Dirge rolled his optics.

'Oh yeah, just because this looks so great in comparison means we can just let anyone take over.'

Thundercracker stopped what he was doing.

'Look you don't know Slipstream; she's not a bad con.'

Dirge grunted and turned his head away.

'I don't get it Thundercracker.'

'What don't you get?'

'As much as I want to kill Slipstream… I want to help her just as  
much'

Thundercracker dropped his tools and looked up 'What?'

'Yeah something about her really makes me want please her... and I hate it, I don't want to be a pawn for anyone.'

Thundercracker rubbed his optics with his index finger and his thumb.

'Dirge we need to have a talk.'

* * *

_Shockwave_

'Shockwave this is embarrassing'

'Nonsense, you asked for my wings, it is only more efficient this way'

'But it's stupid!'

'Would you care to explain?'

Starscream hovered in Jet mode, riding on top of him like as if he were a horse, was Shockwave.

'Ah whatever let's just go'

'Excellent. Ah yes and please refrain from doing any barrel rolls, it would be preferable not fall to my death'

Starscream mumbled curses to himself as he boosted towards the second energy signature.

'You said that the energy signature fell from the sky?' asked Shockwave as he rode his trusty steed.

'Yeah, and it hit me too'

'Fascinating… It appears that even life forms from distant planets must hate you Starscream'

'Shut up or else I will turn myself around, you hear me mister?'

Shockwave decided it would be best to stay silent for now

'Up there, that's where the crater is' said Starscream

The crater was big; whatever fell to create it must have been huge.

That would explain the racket from earlier, thought Shockwave he was so absorbed in his work that the explosion barely even fazed him. They landed at the edge and peered down to see what had fallen.

'Nothing' stated Shockwave.

Starscream transformed to robot mode 'What? This makes no sense how could something like that just get up and leave'

'Perhaps it actually "got up" and left. It did have a Cybertronian energy signature did it not?'

'FOOL!' Starscream shouted as he crouched next to the crater 'the energy signature is coming from the crater. It is merely cloaked, if we touch it, it may reveal itself to us.'

Before Shockwave could reply on how it would be impossible for something so large to be cloaked, three large Insecticons burst out of the ground and sat in front of the duo, one of them carrying a blender like tool with a handle. He sighed as he noticed none of them had his blast cannon with them.

'Ah here they are' said Shockwave 'would you like to have the first batch of this Insecticon's Energon Starscream?'

Starscream looked confused.

'So uh wait, how does this work?' Starscream pointed at the tool that the Insecticon had arrived with 'Do you use that thing to drain the Energon out without a mess or-'

Shockwave placed the tool next to the Insecticon and turned it on. Several blades lashed out and began grinding up the creature as it was sucked into the tool. While most of the Energon was stored inside a cube shaped cup under the handle, the rest of the Insecticon was shot out the back side of the tool, covering Starscream in the Insecticons body parts and organs.

'… Oh dear Primus'

* * *

_Soundwave_

Soundwave had let out his three tapes, he had sent out Laserbeak to find scans so that he could give true life to the other three tapes he had in his possession. During the war P.O.W would have their sparks extracted and placed into these cassette tapes as punishment, they could be given an alt mode when freed; only problem was that the alt mode would have to replace their robot mode hence why Laserbeak had an avian form, Rumble and Frenzy were exceptions as Megatron had purposely reformatted them for reconnaissance missions. However, he had left one tape behind on purpose; Megatron had ordered the Senator to be trapped in that form as punishment for his betrayal. It was only fitting that he rot in a cell after all. The planet was filled with primitive organic creatures, perfect as forms for his new minions.

'I am back' said Laserbeak through a mental link with Soundwave. Laserbeak looked somewhat different, his wingspan appeared longer and his head looked more like an actual birds head. It made no difference to Soundwave, as long as Laserbeak could still do his job right.

'Laserbeak return' Laserbeak transformed back into a cassette and returned back into Soundwave's chest.  
Soundwave observed the scans, a black panther, a blue and white tyrannosaurus and a green and red Stegosaurus. He uploaded them into his other three cassettes. Their names were Ravage, Overkill, and Slugfest. Soundwave decided to address the new additions mentally.

'My fellow Decepticons, you are now free. However freedom comes with a price, we are currently stranded, our other Decepticon brothers have been captured and we are low on Energon. Are there any questions?'

'Yes.' said Slugfest

'Speak' replied Soundwave

'When are we going to find ourselves some femmes to accompany us yo?'

Soundwave covered his visor with the palm of his hand

_Not another Rumble,_  thought Soundwave

'Hey I heard that!'

* * *

_Cybertron_

_Starscream_

Shockwave and Starscream sat at the edge of the crater; Shockwave held one cube in his hand and handed the other to Starscream. Starscream took the cube cautiously and observed its contents. The Energon looked slimy and had bubbles rising from it, he didn't care if his life depended on it (which it did) he was not going to drink this slag. But Shockwave was? Starscream realized, Shockwave didn't have a mouth, while most Decepticons simply retracted their faceplates to consume Energon, Shockwave didn't even have faceplate either, how was Shockwave supposed to drink this stuff? Shockwave put pressure on his chin causing the plating just under his eye to move away panel by panel. Starscream gasped when he saw what was underneath. Just below Shockwaves eye were a line of mandibles, twitching and quivering as he drank the sloppy Energon. He turned to Starscream.

'Yes Starscream, this is what I meant by "extensive modifications"' his mandibles moved as he spoke.

Starscream was disgusted, who in their right minds would do this to themselves?

'You turned yourself into an Insecticon?'

'No not fully, I had already tested making an Insecticon/Decepticon hybrid, and after realizing how great the test results were, I used it on myself, luckily in the end studies revealed that the pulses from the spacebridge didn't affect Insecticons. It saved my life Starscream.'

'You're a… freak!' Starscream tossed away his Energon and slid down the edge of the crater.

'Starscream wait!' Shockwave called as he chased after him. Starscream stood in the middle of the crater and placed his hands on his hips looking for a sign of a cloaked figure.

_'You ready Swoop?' asked Slag_

_'Anytime big guy'_

_'Then pull the switch now!'_

A loud banging sound occurred causing the two Decepticons to dart around trying to find a source of the noise. The Skyscrapers surrounding the Crater began to tip over, all leaning towards Starscream and Shockwave.

_Well I'm getting out of here_  thought Starscream as he transformed to fly away.

_'Snarl!'_

_'On it'_

A sniper bullet hit Starscream's cockpit causing him to fall back into the crater.

With no time to escape, the skyscraper's filled in the crater, with both Decepticons still inside.


	5. Symbols and Scriptures

_Ark Medbay_

_Ratchet_

Ratchet took a step back from the injured Autobot and admired his work, all the wounds were mended, stitched up and reflowing with energon. He began to examine his patient, blue helmet, gold highlights, a well built upper body and thick, muscular fore arms.  A concerned, yet confused look came across Ratchet's face as he began to recognize the Autobot in question.

'Zeta Prime?'

The old Prime leader turned his head like a wind up doll and stared at Ratchet.

'Why wasn't I rescued Ratchet?'

The bulky bot rolled off the table with a thud before limply standing back up. 'Why didn't you go with Optimus to save me?'

Ratchet gasped and began to back away from the dead Prime. 'Primus, Zeta, what are you doing ali-'

Zeta grabbed Ratchet by the shoulders, digging his fingers in, puncturing the medics white armor; he pushed the old medical officer against a work table.

'WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE TRIED YOUR BEST SAVE ME RATCHET?!' Zetas low rumbling voice had now morphed into a high pitched scream as he shook ratchet violently. Each time Zeta shook him, his fingers dug deeper within Ratchet's shoulder causing the medical officer to scream in agony.

Ratchet reached for a buzz saw on the table behind him and turned it on. Without thinking he swung it at Zeta, cutting off both of the old Prime's arms.

'WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS RATCHET?! I WAS YOUR FRIEND!'

Ratchet stumbled away from the armless bot. His lip quivered before he was able to form the right words.

'I am so sorry.'

A figure grabbed Ratchets shoulder. The medic turned around hoping to see a friendly face, only to realize that the bot had no face, let alone a head to begin with. All that was there was a lone brain module loosely connected to some wires above the neck.

'Sideswipe?! you-'

The red bot wrapped his fingers around his brain and began to tug on it; as he did so; more wires began to rip out with it.

'Sideswipe, don't do that!' he screamed as he tried to pull the headless bot's arms away, they were strong but began to weaken long enough for Ratchet to pull them down. The red Sideswipe began to go limp, Ratchet observed the area of the Autobot's head for a brain module only to see it was missing. To his horror, the damp, crunched up brain module was in his hand, Ratchets hand.

'NO, NO, NO, NO!' Ratchet fell to his knees pushing the body away from him, he put his hands over his face and whimpered. He heard more footsteps coming towards him. As he looked up, he saw First Aid standing still, staring at the broken medical officer.

'First Aid please, it was Sideswipe, he just…'

'Witness the cure… that the love in your hands… shall spawn into the beauty… of our universe'

'What?!'

First Aid fell to his knees and retracted his face plate; green liquid began spewing from his lips. His chest began to bulge and eventually exploded open as a small blue and black Cybertronian came crawling out, tearing apart First Aid's chest in the process. It looked like Soundwave. Shielding his eyes from the horror, Ratchet felt a breeze come over him, he winced before opening his eyes, he was no longer in the med bay, he was on the Ark as it flew through space. To the left of him were the corpse of Prime and Megatron. They had no legs, however they were both smiling with their arms around each other as if they were celebrating together. In front of him was Bumblebee who was holding a nucleon shock cannon.

'You haven't been trying your best to save us doc.'

A single blast from the cannon tore a gaping hole in Ratchet, killing him instantly.

Ratchet woke up screaming.

  
_Primus what was that,_  he thought. Ratchet experienced dreams like this when he first started his training during the war, but this one was far worse than the dreams he had back then. Those dreams were usually about having his head crest fall into a patients conversion cog or his fingers melting before him, this was insanity. Ratchet sat up, What if what happened to Sideswipe in the dream meant…

He jumped off of his recharge slab and sprinted towards the ER, inside was Sideswipe, brain module still intact, or at least as intact as it was before. He let out a sigh; it was just a dream he assured himself, just a dream.

'You okay Ratchet?'

Arcee stood outside the ER, her processor had been repaired however she still had some burn marks around her torso.

'I'm fine Arcee' he lied as he walked over to her.

Arcee wore a worried expression 'You sure? Because you look like you were just visited by Megatron.'

Ratchet let out a sigh and leaned himself on the nearest wall. 'It's just been the work load, First Aid has stopped helping and Fixit has been having trouble taking care of everyone else while I work on Sideswipe here.'

'I heard from Fixit that it was bad but… how bad is it?' she tried to look over Ratchets shoulder to see Sideswipe but was blocked off by Ratchet's wide shoulder length.

Ratchet looked back at the slab where Sideswipe's body was, all the damages on him were repaired, he even fixed his arm back on, but the brain module, no matter how he looked at it, made him sick to his stomach.

'I will be honest with you Arcee,' Ratchet tried looking her in the eye but he failed to manage a single glance. 'I don't think I can save him'  
Arcee stared at him; she looked at him as if he had just told her he was really Megatron in disguise or as if he just told her Perceptor wanted to play tag with her.

'You're kidding right?'

'What do you mean?'

'You are going to do something for him aren't you?' Arcee motioned at Sideswipe over Ratchets shoulder.

_She's no different from First Aid_ , he thought.

'What _can_ I do Arcee? If I attempt surgery, even the smallest mistake can kill him.'

Arcee turned away from Ratchet and rubbed her optic ridge, 'Is there any other chance for him to survive that would make the process less dangerous?'

'No, I'm afraid surgery would be the only option'

She sighed,turned back around, and faced Ratchet. Her face looked determined yet sad. It was the kind of look Wheeljack made whenever he would create an invention that he knew would backfire anyway.

'Then it looks like you only have one option'

Ratchet groaned, he was getting annoyed. 'Arcee I told you, surgery is far too risky, if I make one mistake-'

'Then you let him die knowing you tried your best to save him.'

Ratchet had déjà vu.

He saw truth in her words, Sideswipe will never recover on his own; Ratchet couldn't give up on an Autobot, especially when the Autobot still had a glowing spark.

'Okay, I'll do it' he said nodding.

Arcee smiled. 'Great to hear Ratch.'

She gave him a pat on the shoulder. 'Whatever happens, just know that you did your best to save him.'

'Understood, now if you would excuse me, I have a patient to tend to'

'Ah yes, my apologies doctor.'

Arcee walked out of the room, glancing back with a smile for the briefest of moments before walking out of the med bay.

Ratchet turned to his patient. 'Well Sideswipe, you've really gotten yourself into trouble this time.'

He began to work.

First Aid drove to the medbay in ambulance mode, he greeted Air Raid as he passed to make up for last time, however this time it was Air Raid who didn't reply. Transforming to robot mode, First aid squeezed past Arcee through the entrance and headed towards the ER. He had been thinking, perhaps he had been too hard on Ratchet, he had felt the same way about losing friends before, of course Ratchet wasn't one to have friends. Ratchet once told him that Besides Ironhide, Optimus, Wheeljack, the deceased Bumblebee and a few others, he saw the majority of the troops as generic looking robots that he confused with Scattershot a lot. First aid was being a hypocrite and he knew it, what was he thinking leaving the rest of the work to Fixit when he had been complaining to Ratchet about not doing his job, it contradicted what he stood for.

He went to the ER expecting to see Ratchet slumped over, still feeling overwhelmed. However what he saw was more of a pleasant surprise, Ratchet was working on Sideswipe, tools in hand, Ratchet was carefully pulling out lose wires and broken metal and rearranging the parts of Sideswipes brain module. Most of all it was the look of determination on Ratchets face that sold it; it appeared that Ratchet actually wanted to repair Sideswipe again. First Aid smiled behind his faceplate and jogged over to Fixit to help repair the wounded Stakeout and Goldrod

* * *

_Outside the Ark_

_Jetfire_

'Drop the Protectobot, NOW!'

Hotshot drew his path blaster. The strange creature's left scythe was still slit though Groove's torso while the other pointed towards them.

'Now, now' the creature spoke 'my blade is only inches from this borehole's spark, one shot and your friend bites it'

The creature was short, with small and thin limbs and a body smaller than it's large red, head. It's scythes however, were nearly as long as his length. The creature resembled something of a red praying mantis minus an abdomen and with a shorter body.

Jazz signaled Hotshot to lower his gun and stepped forward.  
'Hey listen we don't want any trouble, just put the bot down and we can talk'

At that moment, Perceptor had radioed Jetfire. ' _Jetfire is everything alright?'_

The creature shot a glance at the flier. 'Don't even think about answering it buddy.' He motioned to Groove who was shivering  in pain.

'Okay' Jetfire transformed to robot mode and dropped Bluestreak.

'Ow, Rude' muttered Bluestreak under his breath.

'I am terminating the connection.'

_'Jetire wha-'_ Perceptor's voice was soon replaced with static.

'Now what do you want from us?'

With Groove in scythe, the creature walked oddly towards the denser part of the jungle that surounded the transport.

'Follow.'

Jetfire looked at the others, Wheeljack was still carrying Silverbolt and Cliffjumper in his carrier mode, while Hotshot and Jazz were still covered in scrapes.

'Listen, we will follow you as long as you allow us to step inside, and have our surgeon mend our friends.'

The creature sneered 'Hah, you think I'm an idiot? I don't want your whole damn army coming out to get me. I need you all to come with me before you lot go around telling your buddies to aim and shoot.'

'You don't understand' Jetfire begged 'we really need medical attention, if you let us in, then we can drop off our wounded, then we can..'

The creature made a small slit in Grooves neck with his scythe, causing energon to spill out.

'Oops well would you look at that, now you better come quickly, I doubt you have much time before your buddy here leaks himself dry.'

* * *

_Nemesis: Medbay_

_Thundercracker_

'So what you are saying is that she is a hypnotist?'

Thundercracker groaned.

'No Dirge, that isn't what I meant at all.'

Dirge leaned forward, almost angry by the fact that he was denied being right.

'But you just said that she can get people to things for her because of the way she was manufactured; wouldn't she be manufactured with a hypnosis power then?'

'No, I didn't mean she was manufactured with anything _special_ , I just meant that she was manufactured in a way which made her able to er… how do I put this'

Dirge looked annoyed 'You tell me?'

'Okay, okay I got it' Thundercracker waved his hand in assurance.

'You see Dirge; there are two different kinds of Transformers…'

'Autobots and Decepticons.'

'No, well yes, but there are also males and females.'

Dirge opened his mouth and nodded. He then recalled something Hook once explained to him. 'Right, but didn't the majority of females die in the war?'

'Technically every female Decepticon either died, or had abandoned Cybertron sometime during the war; the former makes up the majority of course.'  
Dirge brought his fingers to his lips in thought. 'Okay so what makes the females any more special than us?'  
Thundercracker took a seat next to a terminal and spun it around so he could face Dirge.

'You see Dirge, you don't remember it because well… you weren't manufactured at the time, but back in the golden age - before the war - we actually had lessons teaching us about the history of our race. Back in the ancient's time we were more organic, more so in biology than in appearance but the similarity was there. During that time the ancients couldn't create more of them by the Allspark like we used to, so they went through a process called "budding"'

'Ah yes of course… what's budding?'

'Basically, budding was a process where one Transformer would give birth to another biologically; this was only accomplished by the females, however it was said to be an extremely long and painful process.'

'That doesn't make any sense' Dirge spat as he raised his hand in denial 'How is that even supposed to work? And were we not involved in any of that?'

'Well technically the ancient's males were involved, at the time the well of Allspark hadn't been discovered yet…' A look of fear and disgust ran across Thundercracker's face,  
'…and thus the only way to create a transformer was to use another's spark.'

Dirge stared at him blankly as if waiting for Thundercracker to admit it to being a joke or to laugh it off. Dirge's optics widened as the Seeker continued.

'Budding was a nasty process yet a necessary one, the males had to give up there sparks in order for the females to go through the process, Now I know what you're thinking Dirge, I can tell by the look on your face, but at the time the ancients lacked the ways of creation we had in our lifetimes. While you would think the males would rather live than give up there sparks for another, Primus knows why, death by giving up their sparks was apparently the number one goal of every Cybertronian at the time. Much so, to the point where they would worship the females. So to sum it up, the females would devour the males sparks and then birth a being out of their chests.

In the end the females would live on and the males would be replaced with more whereas if a female were to die, another female would be born to replace that one.'

Dirge placed a hand on his forehead and shook his head, trying to process the info dump. He looked up and scanned him for a sign that he was making it all up, but that wasn't the Thundercracker he knew.

'So what had changed?'

Thundercracker rested his elbow on the arm of the chair and shrugged.

'By the time the core and the well of Allspark were discovered, the budding process became obsolete. After time the ancients evolved, while budding was forever lost, females were still forged regularly from the well. Of course after becoming a target during the war they were mostly killed off'

'So what you're saying is that Slipstream, as well as other females, have that same sort of effect on males as they did during the ancients time?'

Thundercracker nodded 'Exactly, most of us still have that same urge to give up our sparks for her that we had received from our ancestors'

'But it's not like she can still take our sparks can she?'

'Thankfully, no, femmes lost that ability a long time ago.'

Dirge stared at the floor, still unsure of what he had just learned. 'Thundercracker, why weren't we taught this during the war?'

Thundercracker let out a sigh and stood up 'Megatron never thought history was important, he always said we should be "looking forward at our bright future."'

'Well if you ask me, I wouldn't mind knowing a bit more about our, er… "History"'

'Maybe, although you haven't even heard the half of it, there was the Quintesson invasion, the original thirteen, the first landing on moon base one, the Harvest, The Novacon war, the transportation of the sun, the…'

Dirge stared at him intently; Thundercracker then realized what he got himself into and sighed.

'...okay let's start with the thirteen…'

* * *

 

_Jetfire_

The Autobots followed the ceature through the jungle, the ground was muddy and there was less space between the tree trunks making moving much more difficult for the Autobots.

'I don't trust him Jazz' muttered Hotshot

'Gee what makes you say that? The fact that he just slit open Grooves throat?' he replied sarcastically

Jetfire, now carrying Bluestreak around his arm jogged up beside the creature 'Would you at least mind saying where you are leading us?'

The creature sounded disinterested with Jetfire's question, it was as though his mind was somewhere else. 'Don't worry, you won't have to walk much farther, I am just going to help you become a bit more –Ah "acquainted" so to speak'

'And what is that supposed to mean?' asked Jazz

'It means I am going to kill you all in the slowest most painful death you can imagine.'

The Autobot's stopped walking and stared at the creature.

'Nah I'm just #$%ing with you guys, my friends and I just want to let you know about the, terms of this planet before you end up killing yourselves.'

Wheeljack sighed, somewhat peeved by the joke 'To be perfectly honest with you I doubt some of us will survive through listening to your terms before you let us leave.' 

'Oh now that is just mean' spat the creature 'we aren't that boring, give us a minute and we'll become the best of friends, just you wait.'

'No, I mean Cliffjumper is rusting, the corrosive slime has finished eating away at his chest plate, I don't know how much longer he can hold on'

Jazz looked frantic, 'Listen man we really need medical attention, is there anything you can do for us?'

'Relax, we're here.'

The Autobots moved into a clearing where a crashed ship lay buried in some rubble. The ship was red and Autobot in origin, however the only intact part of the ship was the outside of a hanger bay that was left clear above the ground.

'Grotusque, Doublecross, get your afts out here and help our guests,' two robots sprinted out of the ship and made a beeline for the Autobots. One had red limbs, a blue chest and head, and small wings poking out of his back, the other had white and black limbs with red shoulders and dragon heads for hands. While one of them grabbed Bluestreak, the other reached into the back of Wheeljack carrier mode and pulled out Cliffjumper, the acid had turned his body black black, and parts of the small Autobots cranium were now crumbling off revealing a skull-like head.

'Get them onto the repair bay stat!'

The Autobots followed the three into the ship, at the end of the hallway was a medical bay, Cliffjumper was placed on a slab and hooked up to some sort of tube that stopped the corrosion, above him however was something that Wheeljack hadn't seen since Cybertron had shut down.

'Repair rays!'

Doublecross turned to him, caught up in the moment.

'What? Oh yeah these things, they should fix your friend up just fine' The repair ray shot a wave of light, blue, energon on Cliffjumper, causing his body to shift and regenerate the parts that had rusted away, it was a slow process, but he would live. Silverbolt, Groove and Bluestreak were put on slabs as where more repair rays sprouted from the ceiling. and began to work.

Grotusque gave off a hearty laugh 'Hey Repugnus where did you find these guys? They look like $#!%'

Repugnus ignored him and turned to Jetfire.

'Now then' The bug creature transformed into a yellow and red robot.

'Where shall we begin?'

Hotshot shot a quizzical glance to Jazz who decided to speak first

'First off' he began 'What is up with you guys? Are you Autobots or what, and what is with that alt mode?'

'I am quite surprised actually'

Repugnus flopped onto a metal couch in the corner of the room and lied down with his hands behind his head.

'None of you recognize me after all these years.'

Hotshot examined the bot closer before snapping his fingers 'Repugnus! I remember you now; we were under Fortress Maximus's command once on Cybertron' He chuckled enthusiastically ' I remember now because all you used to do back then was curse in other languages, what are you doing out here?'

'They were exiled' stated Jetfire bitterly.

The other Autobots turned to him.

'You and the others were forever known as  _Monsterbots_  after what you did, it's the truth isn't it?'

Repugnus ran his optics across the ceiling blankly 'More or less.'

'Exile?' asked Wheeljack who was scrubbing some oil off his hands with a cloth.

'I've heard of some cruel punishments but what did you do to get exiled?'

Repugnus cringed, he tilted his head to view the four standing Autobots staring at him, behind them he could see Grotusque and Doublecross giving him stern looks. He had then realized how awkward lying on the couch was while everyone else in the room stood, it felt as though he were in therapy with four psychiatrists looming over him, which he hated to admit, having indeed experienced when he was still on Cybertron.

'Let's talk about what is more important now shall we?' he said sitting up. He cleared his throat, 'As you have already obviously noticed, this planet is not welcome to visitors, especially those without beast modes such as yourselves'

For Jazz, it clicked into place 'So those monsters we fought earlier are Cybertronians like us? he asked.

Repugnus sighed as if he were reminiscing 'Ah yes the Terrorcons, I couldn't mistaken Blot's slime for anything else. Yeah the Terrorcons are Cybertronians, however they have become a little too fond of this planet and have become nothing more than the $#!% stains they scanned, I doubt they can even transform anymore to be completely honest with you.'

'I wouldn't be surprised' said Hotshot as he stretched his arms 'Next time we see those three it will be with Ironhide, Perceptor and the others' He smiled as he cracked his neck 'Then we will see who wants to make a meal out of my friends.'

Repugnus laughed 'Three? You haven't even seen their leader Hun-grr fight. Unlike his lackeys Cutthroat, Blot and Rippersnapper who just like to chew and spit up their food, Hun-grr likes to completely _devour_ his'

Hotshot lowered his arms in disappointment. 'Oh'

'Are there any other Cybertronians here besides us?' asked Jetfire.

'Yeah, more than you think, you see this planet has had several ships land here.'

Repugnus cackled and shook his head.

'Actually more so it had several ships _crash_ here, anyways there is what you could call a small civilization a few kliks away from here. You want energon? Then you better ask the leaders over there for some.'

Upon realising Repugnus had finished, Wheeljack spoke up.

'Er thanks Repugnus, we will keep in touch yeah?'

'Don't bother, we will be moving our ship in a few hours for a new place to mine energon, the stuff doesn't come cheap y'know.'

Doublecross stepped in 'It's even harder to purify it than to find it thanks to this damn planet' He looked to the side and bit his lip 'your buddies are looking better by the way.'

Hotshot walked over to Bluestreak whose legs had regenerated with the help of the repair rays. Bluestreak spotted him and a smug smile stretched across his face.

'Hey bud, how's it going?' he asked while sitting up 'Some nice folks we got here, but that Repugnus guy keeps "bugging me" eh? Get it, because-'

Hotshot sighed 'Yeah because he turns into a giant mantis I get it'

'Hah yeah exactly, you should hear the jokes I thought of for Grotusque and Doublecross'

Hotspot waved his hand dismissively, 'Maybe another time Bluestreak, Y'know before we were attacked, you mentioned something about a planet and racing?'

Bluestreak's grin broadened.

'Yup, I can't remember who I heard it from, but apparently the world is as big as Cybertron and is currently in another golden age!'

Hotshot rested his arms at the edge of Bluestreak's slab, beaming childishly 'What is this place called Bluestreak?'

'The planets name is Velocitron, but most people call it the Speed Planet' He waved his hand in an arch dramatically as he said speed planet as if the words were to appear where he waved.

'Is what you say really true Bluestreak?'

'Of course it isn't.' snapped Jazz

'Jazz?' Hotshot gave him a weak look. 'You don't believe in Velocitron?'

Jazz spoke in a noticeably edgier tone 'I don't, that's because it's all a load of scrap. Velocitron is just something all the sport jockeys came up with early on in the war in order to cope with no longer having their little racing to keep them occupied'  
Hotshot paused, stood up, and stared at his feet, his fists were clenched tightly.

'Well if you put it that way Jazz, then I guess It is best not to talk about such stupid things after all, '

He faked a laugh and walked out solemnly. The now restored Cliffjumper ran up to Jazz and punched him in the shoulder.

'What was up with that?' He pointed a finger at the spec ops agent and scowled.

'What was up with what?'

'You know exactly what I mean, he looks up to you y'know?'

Jazz raised his lip and brushed away his partners hand before walking out of the Monsterbot's medbay.

Cliffjumper leaned on a recharge slab and turned, shaking his head at Bluestreak.

'I can't remember the last time I've seen him like this.'

'Huh… I guess'

Suddenly, Bluestreak had remembered who it was that told him about Velocitron, he must have been mistaken however, it was the only logical reason. If he remembered correctly, then the Autobot who told him about Velocitron was... Jazz. Although Jazz had a different name back then, it was no doubt the same person, even considering how different that bot was back then compared to how he was just moments ago.

* * *

_Ironhide_

'Ironhide, I think I found something!'

The red Autobot jogged over to Warpath's position, he was standing at the base of a large tree with roots that stretched from underneath them and disappeared into the ground.

'What was that?'

'I said I think I found something' Warpath pointed a digit at the base of the tree where a glimmering metal could be seen glimmering under the tree's roots.

Ironhide knelt down and pulled away the roots revealing more of the metal. He unclipped an energon knife from his belt and cut into the plant life, slowly tearing more of it away until what came into view was a neatly printed picture on the metal. Ironhide stood up and crossed his arms as he gazed down at the picture. It appeared to be more of a symbol really; it was that of a head with one side being metallic and the other side organic looking. Ironhide couldn't help but find the metallic part of the head familiar. The organic half had pink skin and silver hair coming out of its scalp, an ugly looking creature in Ironhide's personal opinion.

'What is it?' asked Warpath

'Not entirely sure' Ironhide sheathed the knife and unclipped a scatter blaster from his belt  
'But we're about to find out'

Ironhide fired a round into the symbol sending shards of metal flying into the air, the veteran cleared way the smoke to reveal a dark hole underneath.

Warpath flinched.  
'We uh- we aren't going in there are we?'

Ironhide looked at him and smirked before sliding legs first into the hole. Warpath shrugged and followed him inside. When he landed at the bottom of the metallic hole, everything was pitch-black. It also felt like he was standing on a slope.

'Ironhide I can't see a thing, where are you?'

'Relax kid I'm right here, just gimme' a sec to turn on my lights'

At either side of Ironhide's head shone small light's. He looked at Warpath who shielded his visor from the light.

'Well? Aren't you going to turn on your head lights?'

'Wha- oh okay I thought you meant- never mind, hold on a sec.'

Warpath turned on his lights allowing the two bots to get a better view of where they were. They were in a tilted metal corridor; the angle that the hallway leaned gave the Autobots an ominous feeling, as if they were in a fun house during night time when nobody was around.

'It would be best if we stick together.'

'Don't have to tell me again old timer…'

The two bots walked down the hallway, they took a couple of turns until they came across a light switch on the wall.

'Warpath be careful, it could be a tra-'

Warpath flicked the switch.

'WARPATH!'

'Huh? Oh sorry I didn't hear you.'

The lights came on revealing the lime green hallway to be cluttered with odd tools and weapons. Painted on the walls were alien symbols and scriptures.

'Have you seen anything like this before Ironhide?'

'Nah kid I aint the one to be asking those kinds of questions, that's the kind of stuff you would ask Ku-'

A figure caught Ironhide's optic through a crack in a doorway.

'Hold on a second kid'

Ironhide kicked open the door and pointed his scatter blaster at the figure. The figure was sitting in a chair, with a metal beam stuck through their skull.

* * *

_Cybertron_

_Starscream_

Starscream groaned as he picked himself up, he felt like someone had dropped a building on him, as his memories returned to him he realized that a building had indeed fallen on top of him. But where had Shockwave gone, and who could have done this? He took a look around, it appeared that he was somewhere beneath the surface. He must have fallen through the crater before he was meant to be crushed. It was dark but he could make out some of the shapes of scattered scrap metal left by the rotting decay of the space slug corpses.

'Shockwave! Where have you gone? I am not in the mood for digging myself up so come and help your master.'

'Starscream…'

'Shockwave?'

Starscream followed the voice and tripped over a pole like object, falling onto the rough metal floor, he winced in pain as he pierced his hands on the sharp metal while pushing himself up. He spotted Shockwave standing on a large heap with his single eye staring at his ground below him.

'Shockwave what are you-'

'Hypothesis…'

Starscream jumped onto the heap Shockwave was standing on to get a better look at what the one eyed scientist was staring at.

'We are currently standing on the life signal that fell from the sky Starscream.'

Starscream scoffed 'What are you talking about; this is just a…pile…of'

The seeker took another look at what he had tripped on, it appeared to be a cannon, he traced down the cannons barrel to see what it was connected to, he made out a large head followed by a larger chest which the two were standing on. It was then with fear and surprise, that Starscream had realized that he was standing on the deactivated body of Bruticus.


	6. Because I am Still Living

* * *

_Ratchet_

Ratchet sighed as he packed away his scalpel. He looked over the black processor one last time before turning to his data pad to take note. He had done well, better than he thought he would have done. The brain had some of its minor functions on line, unfortunately no matter what else he tried, it just wouldn't be enough. Just as he feared, Ratchet could not bring Sideswipe back. Thinking back to what Arcee had said, he had still done his job to the best of his ability, and that in itself gave him a feeling of relief. He had failed, Sideswipe was no worse from before the operation and he was still alive, but there was just nothing Ratchet could do about it, and he took solace in that. He walked out of the ER cleaning his hands with a cloth where First Aid greeted him, he observed Ratchet with a stern look.

'How is he?'

Ratchet gripped the cloth. He was afraid of what First Aid would say, ironically enough it was usually the younger medic that would be worried about what Ratchet would think after a failure to save a life.

'I'm sorry First Aid, I did all I could, I did! But the central wirings were left cut for too long and the connections to the muscular skeletal were too far down his throat to be recovered, I'm sorry First Aid I just…'

'Ratchet' First Aid put a hand on his shoulder. 'you did all you could, I believe you, is he still alive?'

Ratchet nodded.

'Then relax, we still have hope' First Aid tapped at his wrist revealing a hologram of a repair ray.

'Jetfire sent a message about 15 minutes ago; he said he found some exiled Autobots… don't ask. He says they have repair rays from before the planet shut down. Maybe we could use them to help Sideswipe.'

Ratchet shook his head 'No, repair rays have only been known to repair the body, they would be useless on a processor'

First aid turned off the hologram and slumped over an empty recharge slab.

'So we just leave him like this?'

Ratchet knew what First Aid was implying, he hated the idea of leaving Sideswipe the way he was, but he knew that he would never forgive himself if he were to end his life.

'Yeah, I guess we will be leaving him like this for the time being, until we have an idea of what to do with him at least.'

First Aid nodded; there was a moment of silence, the two medical officers were unsure of what to say to each other at this point. Finally Ratchet broke the silence with a low cough.

'… How's Trailbreaker doing?'

'Still in stasis, the big guy is nearly done his repairs, hard to think he has been in stasis for over a year now.'

Ratchet nodded 'Aid… what do you think is going to happen to us in the future? I mean we are stuck on this planet with little energon, how long do you think we will survive?'

First Aid sat on the recharge slab and stared at the floor.

'To be honest Ratch, that's one of those questions that you  _don't_  want to know the answer to'

* * *

_Starscream_

'Bruticus?!' Starscream yelled in shock 'What is  _he_  doing here?'

Shockwave crouched down next to the giant and examined Bruticus' face, in a second Shockwave thought of 54 answers to what Bruticus could have been doing on Cybertron when he  _should_  have been with Megatron on the Nemesis. He deduced that the most Logical reason would be…

'He was shot off the Ark during Megatron's planned assault, and landed here.'

Starscream chuckled to himself

'Oh of course, miles and miles away from Cybertron, and he just fell back with little more than a few burns? What logic did you put into that?'

Shockwave thought to himself, it really didn't make any sense, If Bruticus fell back to Cybertron, then he would have suffered burns much worse than these, By calculating the time it had been since Bruticus has landed, plus the severity of the burns, Shockwave came to the conclusion that Bruticus had to have fallen from at least Moon base one. He began to recalculate possibilities.

After a moment of watching Shockwave mutter to himself, Starscream realized that the scientist wasn't going to answer him for at least another minute. He jumped off the side of the combiner and examined him, the legs formed by Swindle and the old ground commander Brawl, the arms made from Vortex and Blastoff. Then there was Onslaught, the chest and head of Bruticus, Starscream felt compelled to shoot the traitor right there and then, but of course, considering the current situation perhaps it would be best to let Shockwave do his thing. He wasn't an idiot; at least not to him anyway, it should have been perfectly fine to vent his rage by a simple kick to the head rather than a shot to the head. He lifted his leg back and kicked the gestalt's massive cranium. Pain struck throughout his toes and up his ankle.

'My foot!' Starscream screamed, He WAS an idiot, who in their right mind would just kick a combiner in the head, stupid.

'Starscream, what did you do?'

Starscream glanced back at Shockwave who was pointing at Bruticus' head. It appeared that Starscream had activated something when he kicked the combiner. Bruticus' large eyes glowed dark red as electricity surged through his body, but before Shockwave could get a better look, dark red beams shot out of both eye sockets and burned through the downed skyscrapers above them. The electricity forming within Bruticus' body climaxed and zapped Shockwave, sending the one eyed Decepticon flying into a corner.

The beams dimmed and faded and Bruticus' eyes turned dark again. Shockwave brushed himself off and yanked a sliver of glass out of his armless shoulder.

'Starscream, I have reason to believe Bruticus was captured during his fall through space.'

Starscream, still skeptical from the display he had seen, tiptoed over Bruticus.

'What do you mean captured? He is right here you moron.'

'What I mean to say Starscream, is that Bruticus has been experimented on before crash landing here.'

Starscream scoffed 'You would know ALL about that' he said sneering.

Shockwave ignored him and continued his analysis.

'I believe that Bruticus had been captured by Autobots, following an experimentation process of some kind, once it was completed, they threw him away, leaving him here to die.'

'So he shoots some lasers out of his eyes, big whoop. What kind of experiments would Autobots want to do on a brute like…Bruticus?'  _So that's why he is named that_ , Starscream thought _. Brute…Bruticus_

Shockwave pointed at each of Bruticus' limbs 'See those scars?'

'Yeah, what about them.'

'They are where the Combaticons conversion cogs are supposed to be.'

Starscream gazed at Bruticus and then looked back at Shockwave.

'You are saying the Autobots took their… cogs?'

Shockwave nodded 'Without his conversion cogs, Bruticus will not be able to split back into the Combaticons until they are replaced.'

'You think the Autobots are trying to rip off our combiner technology?'

Shockwave shrugged 'I somehow doubt it.

The seeker crossed his arms and frowned.

'You don't think it is the Autobots?'

Shockwave didn't answer. Starscream sighed and looked up at the two holes burned into the ceiling from Bruticus. This was no accident; someone tried to kill them, but who else was still on Cybertron?

'Dinobots'

'Who?' Starscream felt as though he just had his mind read.

'Slug, Swoop and Snarl' the remaining members of Grimlock's team, I have come to the conclusion that they plan to kill us and use one of my project to escape from Cybertron.'

Starscream cringed when he heard Shockwave say escape. It was as if Cybertron had now become a living hell to most, which indeed it was.

'What is this secret project you speak of?'

' _One_  of my secret projects actually.'

'Ah so just like your little self-experiment' said Starscream in disgust.

Shockwave lifted his hand up to the part of his head where his mandibles were covered.

'That reminds me,' He put his fingers up to the white antenna at the side of his head.

'Kickback, do you read?'

* * *

_Shockwave's tower_

Kickback and Hardshell had just finished devouring their Insecticon brother Sharpshot. While Kickback would miss his company, he was proud to admit he had always wondered what Sharpshot tasted like, better than he expected.

' _Kickback, do you read?'_

Kickback stood up straight and radioed back.

'Kickback here sir'

_'What is your status?'_

'Sharpshot is delicious… I mean Sharpshot is dead, and Hardshell has suffered some wounds, but don't worry, I am fine.'

' _That is not what I care about Kickback, I need someone to activate experiments: Deluxe VNM and CHPSHP_

Hardshell overheard and responded back

'But sir, those experiments are-'

'So help me Hardshell'

'Understood'

Hardshell turned to Kickback.

'Let's go Kickback; we have an little errand for Shockwave it seems.'

'YAY!'

* * *

_Ironhide_

Ironhide lowered his weapon and signaled Warpath to do the same.

'Relax kid, he won't be hurt'n anyone anytime soon.'

'I am the one relaxed; you are the one who drew your weapon.'

'Shut it; let's see if there is anything in here that we could use.'

The two Autobots searched the ship, Ironhide, ignoring the dead green robot, searched through metal cabinets lining the perimeter of the almost kitchen-like room but found nothing but dust. Warpath on the other hand came across a large pair of metal doors that touched the ceiling. Wondering what was inside, the red tank heaved open the large doors and peered in. He gasped and fell to his knees; within this room was something he thought he would only ever dream about.

'BLAM!'

Inside the room were rows and rows of guns alongside other weaponry, all shiny and new. Warpath ran up to each gun, gawking at them like a little kid on Christmas morning. Big ones, small ones, all sorts of guns and cannons one could ever want or need. He ripped the guns from the walls and brought them all to the floor. He began to dance around like a ballerina as he lifted the guns and threw them up in the air allowing them to shower back down on him; he fell back in the pile of guns and cannons and did what would be an equivalent of a snow angel in the fire arms.

'YES, YES, YES!'

Ironhide was standing in the doorway speechless.

'What in the name of Primus are you doing?'

Warpath jumped to his feet and scratched the back of his head.

'Oh well um… hey Ironhide, check out these cannons, you would probably like them.'

Ironhide thought he had searched through everything in the other room. However he had missed what was in the palm of the dead green robots hand, it was an audio log, after finally rewinding, the audio log played itself on its own.

' _This is Flacker, I OH GOD I think it's… wait….. I think….. imagined …something... in doorway. My partners Oval… Fleet …..dead; died trying…. get away….anyone recei…. this message, wh…ever you do, ..nt go to…planet…ebu….s… I repeat.. do …not..OH GOD…THERE…IS….GET AWAY…GE….OU…. MY HEAD!….SCREEEEEEEEEEE. End log.'_

'Hey did you hear something Warpath?'

'What?'

'Never mind.'

* * *

_Jetfire_

After explaining the situation to Perceptor via intercom, Jetfire gathered the Autobots in a circle as he addressed them.

'Alright Autobots, Perceptor and I have decided that the best course of action would be to meet with the occupants of this civilization Repugnus had talked about, Groove will be heading back to the Ark, anyone else who wishes to head back is welcome to go with him'

'Finally!' said Hotshot 'I am totally sick of this place, I'm heading back to take a nap, someone wake me up when we are off the planet or- or if something neat happens, like if you find a buffet or a something.'

Hotshot transformed and drove to the exit. Bluestreak soon followed behind.

Repugnus strolled over to Groove and held out a hand.

'No hard feelings eh chum?'

Groove slapped it away in disgust.

'You could have killed me!'

Repugnus laughed in a chummy sort of way.

'Ah that was in the past, besides how else am I supposed to get someone's attention?'

'Several ways actually, asking politely, NOT stabbing people…'

'Aww cheer up, if it wasn't for us your little red friend would be dead'

Groove shrugged and drove away in motorcycle mode.

'Hey, I was expecting a thank you at the least!'

Wheeljack worked on repairing the clutch drone, he decided to add some rockets that shot drills filled with explosives – 'just in case'. He turned to Cliffjumper who caught his attention by doing some jumping jacks.

'You aren't heading back Cliff? You only just recovered from your corrosive state.'

'Ah relax Wheels, I'm perfectly fine now, and besides someone needs to keep an eye on Mr. Grump over there.'

'Who,' Wheeljack crossed his arms and paused to think 'Silverbolt?'

'What? No. Well yeah him too, but I'm talking about Jazz.'

Wheeljack nodded in understanding, 'Riiiight! Yeah weird how he snapped at Hotshot like that, maybe it had to do with the bad Energon he drank this morning, might be bringing back bad memories of the past.'

Cliffjumper tilted his head and shot Wheeljack an odd look.

'What about his past? Besides the dozens of medals he shows off, all I have ever heard about his past is how he trained himself to be a master in Metallikato and worked in the Autobot police force with the likes of Pax and Ironhide.'

'No not that Cliff, I'm talking about the stuff he  _doesn't_ want you to know about. See he was a racer back in the day, along with other Autobots that have forever left Cybertron like the racing champ Blurr. One day he was close to getting into the finals where the top athletes would compete in "speed planet" no one knew where it was located, however the races were always filmed there.'

Wheeljack chuckled 'They say speed planet was an actual planet, but for some reason Jazz just dropped out in the last minute. I wouldn't think it would still bother him now, but who knows what is going on in his head, am I right Cliff?'

Cliffjumper didn't looked amused,

'Pfft that's dumb, Jazz wouldn't freak out over something like that, would he?'

Wheeljack shrugged.

Jetfire counted heads, Wheeljack, Cliffjumper and Jazz looked like they were willing to go with him. He looked over at Silverbolt. He was mended; however he was leaning on a wall and staring into the middle distance as usual.

'Er you gonna come with us Silverbolt?'

He nodded.

'Okay then…'

Jetfire meant to ask him about what was on his mind; but felt like it wasn't a good time. He was approached by Grotusque.

'Repugnus wanted me to escort you to the village, I'm sure you don't mind'

'Oh not at all' Jetfire thought it was funny how just earlier one of them was ready to kill Groove and that they were ready to trust them so easily.

'Alright then, let's head out.' Grotusque transformed into a blue, brown and red dragon-like creature with bat wings and moved towards the exit.'

'Now my memory isn't the best, but I believe before every mission Optimus Prime would say something like "Autobots, Transform and…. $# % those Decepticons, right up their $$'s"

The Autobots as well as Doublecross all groaned in unison with a mix of "ewws" and "dang it that's nasty". Only Repugnus let out a laugh.

'Not literally.' assured Grotusque.

* * *

_Ratchet_

Red Hot had finally been fully mended, leaving only Trailbreaker and Blades still in need of repairs.

Fixit looked up at Ratchet and shook his arm to get some attention.

'Can I help you Fixit?'

'Why don't you take a break, it's getting kind of late and you've been working all day.'

Ratchet smiled, he was appreciative of the smaller medic's concern.

'Well let me tell you how much I appreciate it Fixit but…' He looked over at Blades who only needed a little more tweaking to be up and about, he then looked down at his hands that were shaking from all the work he had done.

'Maybe you're right Fixit, early Aerialbot catches the con as they say.'

He allowed Fixit to finish Blades' repairs and strolled over to his quarters in the med bay, he passed by the ER and stopped to peer into the room, the lights were off but he could still make out the stasis pod with Sideswipe's body within it, First Aid had started putting his head back together earlier as Ratchet could see Sideswipe's lower jaw already attached to his neck. Something seemed off however, it looked like something was moving next to the pod. He moved closer to get a better look and saw a big crack was over the glass of the stasis pod. To Ratchets horror, the crack grew as a shadow passed over it. Someone was trying to break through.

'You there, stop what you are doing and show yourself!' He ran into the ER and sprinted towards the shadow. The shadow took notice of Ratchet and leaped into an open air duct, bumping and scraping echoed through the walls of the Ark as the shadowy figure crawled away through the ducts.

Ratchet radioed Perceptor,

'Perceptor, someone tried to kill Sideswipe, I think a Decepticon may have escaped, get someone to search through the ducts, they could be anywhere in the Ark by now.

Throughout the Ark the sounds of the figure escaping could be heard, Scattershot was polishing his weapons as he raised his head upon hearing the sound, Hotshot, Groove and Bluestreak had just approached the Ark when they could hear the faint scraping sound.

Soundwave could hear every word being said within the Ark, naturally the sound wasn't hard for him to make out, yet not as much so for his minions.

Hotspot was berating Streetwise for bullying Phaser when they heard it, whereas Hound, Brawn and Red Alert were all woken up from napping as they heard the scraping coming from the vents above.

Below in the Decepticons cells, Breakdown freaked out as he heard the scraping above while the other Stunticons remained silent, Dirt Boss kept complaining about the noise and pestered Longhaul to make it stop. Barricade looked around from his cell and overheard the guards, Beachcomber and Powerglide explaining to Perceptor that none of the Decepticons had escaped. Back in the Med Bay, Ratchet shut his optics and felt a wave of despair wash over him upon receiving the info from Perceptor, that whoever tried to kill Sideswipe had to have been an Autobot.

* * *

_Thundercracker_

Slipstream was going through the plan to rescue Soundwave and the others with Thundercracker. He hated the idea that he was still a part of this war, that they would still have to fight, however he trusted Slipstream, she had a better motive than to just kill the Autobots, she planned to rescue their comrades, and that was enough for Thundercracker to trust her actions.

'So what happens after we rescue them?' he asked.

'Simple, we destroy the Ark thus ending the Autobots lives and confirming Decepticon victory'

'So then that's it? We are done the war?'

'Correct!' she said with a bright smile. 'As much as I would like to take our comrades and run, according to Soundwave, we out number them ten to one so it would only make sense to end them rather than let them live to fight again.'

Thundercracker grinned; the war would actually be over, no more fighting. He was truly excited for a battle for once. Ending the Autobots once and for all, reuniting all Decepticons, take over another planet and rebuild Cybertron. Everything will be perfect he thought, after all this perhaps he and Skywarp could sit in a bar, have a drink and look back at Megatron, Starscream and the Autobots and laugh at the silly war. Maybe he would even become famous, young bots would see him on the street and run up to him for autographs, a television show could be made chronicling the Decepticon's battles to destroy the evil forces of the Autobots, and he could have a lead role.

He laughed at the thought. No, things would never be that easy, maybe some other group of Cybertronians would rebel, or some sort of evil force would end their peace. Something like that always had to happen.

Dirge walked onto the bridge and made a beeline for Thundercracker, Needlenose and the black and purple half jet Fireshot soon followed with worried glances.

Dirge stopped in front of Thundercracker and punched him in the face causing the blue seeker to double back and land hard on the smooth metal floor.

'You frag what the slag was that for?!'

Slipstream immediately burst with laughter from the sight of Thundercracker getting hit, she almost falling to the ground from laughing too hard. Dirge clenched his fist and held Thundercracker up by the collar.

'You lied to me!'

'What? About what?'

Dirge swung another fist across Thundercrackers face

'All those stories, you never told me they were just legends!'

Thundercracker tried to loosen Dirges grip.

'They weren't  _all_  legends; they were all passed down from our ancestors. Some people just don't like to believe some of it since it was so long ago.'

'Pfft, you should have told me that before I went around talking about Females devouring sparks, do you know how embarrassing that was? Everyone was laughing at me!'

Dirge readied another punch, dent's already marking Thundercracker's face from the last few hits and the next would most likely knock him out. Slipstream wrapped her fingers around Dirge's wrist

'Hahah, please….heh….please don't hit him Dirge' her expression turned cold 'we don't need any fighting to go on in here, besides…'

She leant closer until her head was over the coneheaded con's shoulder. She whispered into his audio receptor.

' _You know what they say about how females were able to devour sparks? Perhaps it is all truer than you realise, and perhaps we haven't actually lost that ability like most think.'_

She hissed intimidatingly causing Dirge to back away and sprinted out of the bridge as fast as he could.

'Feh should a seen that coming' said Fireshot, the smaller jet turned to Needlenose 'Wanna get back to Pwning noobs in Fires of Deception: Nova warfare 3?' he asked Needlenose.

'Hell yeah' Needlenose raised his fist in the air 'let's head back to my quarters before Spinister unplugs it again. He keeps saying it's wastes energy, heh idiot.'

Slipstream offered out her hand and helped Thundercracker up. He held his face where Dirge had hit him and tried to ignore the sting.

'I think you scared him off.'

Slipstream let out another laugh 'He'll probably get over it soon enough.'

Thundercracker stared at her 'You can't actually devour other Cybertronians sparks by mental command can you?'

Slipstream winked at him 'I'm not telling, that is for you to figure out for yourself.'

Thundercracker chuckled to himself lightly 'Great'

He began to limp to the medbay.

'Yo Thundercracker?' Slipstream called 'Why are you limping, you were hit in the face.'

'I don't kn- I'm injured I can do what I want!'

* * *

_Jetfire_

The sky had turned black, it had become nightfall during the Autobots trek through the jungle. Jazz, Cliffjumper and Wheeljack had to resort to walking on foot due to the thickness of the trees while Jetfire, Silverbolt and Grotusque had the skies to themselves.

'Just a few more minutes till we're there guys' said Grotusque as he flew in his beast mode.

'Excellent' exclaimed Jetfire 'but what do we do about shelter? Is there somewhere we can rest in this village or will we be stuck powering down outside?'

Before Grotusque could answer, a droplet of water landed on his snout and trickled down the side of his face. It was raining

'Damn, guys, stop what you are doing, we should find some shelter before we end up rusting.'

The Autobots complied and the two Autobot fliers descended with Grotusque to the other Autobots.

'There' said Grotusque pointing at a large tree with wide leave  
'A tree' stated Cliffjumper  
'Yup'  
'What about it?'  
'That is where we will be staying the night'  
'You are kidding right?' said Wheeljack 'You expect us to power down in dirt and mud and… dirt?'

Grotusque smirked 'Aww I'm sorry, does the little Autobot need a blanket to go with that free  _shelter_?'

Wheeljack growled at him, he realized it sounded a lot more stupid than it should have sounded threatening.

'Both of you can it' said Jetfire 'Grotusque is right, we need somewhere to rest and I don't want to rust out here in the rain'

Cliffjumper shook, Rust? Oh Primus. He was still haunted by his incident earlier that day.

'Yeah let's just get under the tree shall we?' he said nervously.

The group huddled under the large tree and Grotusque transformed into his robot mode.

'I will take the first watch, get a good rest guys, you'll need it.'

'Uh thanks' replied Jetfire.

An hour later, Jazz and Cliffjumper had powered down, Jazz sat leaning his back on the tree as he slept, his partner Cliffjumper leaned beside him, resting his head on Jazz's shoulder as he snored with his mouth wide open. Wheeljack kept getting up and moving to a different spot under the tree, unable to find a comfortable position to power down. Jetfire couldn't sleep either; he was leaning on the other side of the tree, arms folded behind his head. He watched Silverbolt who stood at the edge of the tree's sheltering leaves. Jetfire figured now would be the best time to ask; he got on his feet and walked over to Silverbolt.

'Hey Bolt, are you okay?'

The Aerialbot stared at the rain; the sound of the droplets vibrated against the ground and dripped down in streams from each leaf. Silverbolt appeared mesmerized by it. Jetfire wasn't surprised, it was such a huge change from Cybertron, compared to black oil and orange rust, the green and brown of the trees and the soothing sound of the jungle was truly a more peaceful world. Silverbolt turned to his flying companion.

'I'm fine Jetfire.'

'You don't seem fine.'

'Why do you say that?'

'You have been quiet lately; most Autobots on board have seen you moping around in the halls sometimes and the daydreaming…' Jetfire shook his head. 'There is nothing wrong with daydreaming but it isn't quite like you. What is with you Silverbolt?

Silverbolt looked back Jetfire, his optics filled with melancholy.

'What is with me?'

Jetfire nodded 'Yes, why are you acting this way?'

'I guess that's because…' he paused

'Because I am still living, Jetfire'

* * *

_Ratchet: 3:30 am_

Ratchet knew Sideswipe's assassin would return, it was only a matter of time. He was hidden, hidden somewhere they would least suspect in the ER. He had waited for hours, knowing that the shadowy figure would return to finish the job, and surely enough, it did. The figure was hard to see from Ratchet's position while the lights were off, but there was no mistake, it was the same shadow that tried to break the glass of Sideswipe's stasis pod. The figure tried hacking away at the glass with a club. Ratchet watched silently as the figure shattered the glass, turning off all life support in the machine. Just as planned, Ratchet burst from the stasis pod and strangled the shadowy figure's slender neck. Earlier he had Fixit move Sideswipe's body to another stasis pod in the ward and had it hidden it with spare parts, Ratchet had been hidden inside Sideswipe's original stasis pod for hours waiting for the right moment, and that moment was now.

'Fixit, the lights NOW!'

Fixit heard the signal and turned on all power in the med bay. The bright burst of light stung both figures optics, but also revealed who the assassin was.

Ratchet fell back in shock.

'What? No you… Why would you do this? But I thought… WHY?!'

* * *

 


	7. Tried to Kill Them

_Hardshell_

Hardshell was unsure of Shockwaves decision, but then again as long as it didn't affect him in any negative way, it concerned him not. What bothered him about the task however was the instability of the test subjects he was asked to awaken. In contrast, Kickback seemed excited, it appeared that to him releasing these experiments would be of interest to him. For Hardshell, releasing these experiments would be suicide. The two Insecticons stood at either side of two large canisters, reading the text printed on them to make sure they had the right ones. Shockwave had told them that the only way to open both tanks would be to pull a pair of levers simultaneously;  _He always did love the whole simultaneous lever pull_ , thought Hardshell.

'Are you ready Kickback?'

'Why of course!' he replied in glee.

The two pulled the levers, at first nothing happened. Then, after a moment of pause, steam began to poor out of the tanks. Like zombies walking through a graveyard, two large Insecticons had stepped out of the tanks and into the steamy room, both were about Megatron's height with one brown and red with a bulky body and pincers sticking out of his back, and the other was thinner, with a green body and a large orange head, wings sprouted from his back.

Hardshell whistled as he stared at his larger Insecticon compatriots. He turned on his communicator and radioed Shockwave.

'Not bad boss, not bad at all.'

' _We have no time for admiration Hardshell,'_ reminded Shockwave  _'I need you to escort them to my position and assist us out of this rubble.'_

'Will do,' He turned to the two test subjects, their gazes emotionless, their postures, unflinching.  _Their personalities had not quite set in yet,_  Hardshell thought.

These Insecticons weren't like he or Kickback, and they were far different from the lesser Insecticons. After the apparent success from Shockwave's self-test to fuse Insecticon with Cybertronian, he had begun to create his own Insecticons the same way he had done with Grimlock and the Dinobots. Hardshell naturally felt uneasy, seeing what Shockwave had done to his race, of course his inner scientist granted him a wave of pleasure whenever he were to exercise a test.

'Chop Shop, Venom.' He addressed the brown and green Insecticons respectively.

'Let us go serve your creator, and show the remaining Autobots of this planet, what it means to fight against the Insecticon hive!'

Expecting a cheer, Hardshell felt embarrassed when all the Insecticons responded with were nods. He shrugged and transformed to his armoured beetle mode. The Deluxe Insecticons did the same, Chop Shop turning into a stag beetle, while Venom transformed into a cicada like creature.

' _Hardshell,'_ contacted Shockwave ' _before you go, I need you to wait for Kickback, he is to pick something up for me'_

'And what might that be?'

Before he got a response, Shockwave was already been in contact with Kickback.

' _Kickback,'_

'Yes sir?'

' _I need you to retrieve some Energon and my blast cannon, or the Sling Shock as Sharpshot used to call it.'_

Back underneath the crater as Shockwave spoke to Kickback, he turned his attention to Starscream who was examining Brutics.

'I need it, as there is an armed nuisance here that must be terminated.'

' _I gotcha Shockwave, will definitely do,'_ Kickback severed the connection just as Starscream had wandered over to Shockwave.

'What were you going on about to those buffoons?'

'Just to give us some extra armaments for our assault on the Dinobots.'

Starscream grinned 'Excellent Shockwave, those savages won't know what hit them.'

Starscream mad his way back to Bruticus's body, unknown to the fact that Shockwave was planning to terminate him, and that by the time the Insecticons arrive, Shockwave would have every means of doing so.

* * *

_The Ark's Prison Block, lowest point of the ship._

Powerglide waved back at Scattershot, Huffer (who was grumbling to himself as he worked in the back) and Streetwise as he and Beachcomber ascended up the lift.

'Don't let them give you any trouble boys!'

'Don't worry,' assured Scattershot 'They'll behave themselves.'

He darted an optic to Barricade's cell and grinned.

'Won't they?'

'Blow it out of your exhaust port!' spat the Decepticon.

Scattershot ignored him and turned to Streetwise.

'Hey kid, I thought it was Afterburners shift'

The red and white scout huffed.

'Hotspot pulled some strings with Perceptor; put me on guard duty as some kind of punishment for talking down one of the Astros'

He crossed his arms and stared at one of the cells.

'If you tell me, I am sick of all these smaller groups and teams, the Aerialbots, Protectobots, Astro squad, Rescue Patrol, It is no different from the caste system we had before the war'

Streetwise kicked Ramjets cell causing the laser bars to fizz.

'Hey watch it Autobrain!'

Barely even conceiving the Seeker, he continued.

'Hotspot keeps treating me like some kid; I might as well leave the Protectobots y'know? First Aid is probably thinking that leaving the group was the best thing that ever happened to him, being Ratchet's right hand medic and all. '

Scattershot shrugged and stared at the young Protectobot.

'Look kid…' He realized his mistake and shook his head, 'Er… I mean Streetwise, if you want to leave the group, just ask your boss, Hotspot is the understanding type after all. But even then, do you have any idea what leaving the group would accomplish? Being a part of a team only gives you nothing but opportunities, there is a chance you may just get yourself killed if you end up going solo'

Scattershot chuckled 'You wouldn't believe how many times my Technobots had to haul me out of a mess.'

Streetwise shrugged, just as he opened his mouth he heard a faint screeching sound not unlike the sound of the metal scraping in the ducts. This sound, however, was different.

Scattershot heard it too; he scanned the room and located the source of the screeching at the far wall, it was coming from the hole that had been blown open by Air Raid's missiles during Soundwave's escape. It was still barely blocked off, Huffer was there working on constructing a cover for the hole as the screeching began. It obviously wasn't the best looking cover as the only thing covering it were a few metal planks poorly nailed to the wall with obvious signs of sloppiness. While it was still generally blocked off, there was still enough room for a small creature to get in the ship, not that Huffer cared considering it was only the cell block.

As the two bots raised their weapons, the screeching grew louder. Decepticons trying to catch a stasis nap covered their audio receptors and roared in annoyance. Scattershot cautiously sidestepped to the hole and peered through. Suddenly several large bats flew in from between the metal planks, drowning the Technobot in a sea of flapping naked wings and chaotic high-pitched screeching. Scattershot fell on his back in shock, almost landing on Huffer in the process. Streetwise on the other hand fired at the bats until the majority either flew out of the Ark or had stuck themselves to the ceiling.

'You okay man?' Streetwise asked, jogging over and helping him up.

Scattershot pulled himself to his feet and rubbed his helm, 'Yeah, I'm alright.'

'Well gee, I'm fine too thanks for asking' grumbled Huffer as he brushed himself off.

'Shut up Huffer' responded Streetwise.'

Scattershot looked over at one of the cells, it was empty.

'What in tarnation?'

'What?'

'Huffer, tell me there wasn't anyone in that cell before the bats came in.'

Huffer stared at the cell in question.

'Wasn't that one of the Casseticon's cells? I thought Soundwave took all his tapes.'

Scattershot shook his head 'Naw he left one behind, mustn't have been too important.'

Streetwise raised a brow 'Well a tape can't just sprout legs and be off …can it?'

Scattershot sighed 'Ah I'm probably just a little jumpy from the bats, there's a chance that I'm hallucinating... I'll have Red Alert check it out later though, he'll know for sure whether we have an escapee or not.'

Outside the Ark, Ratbat was free. He flew through the night with a satisfaction that had been foreign to him for so long. Finally after all these years of being trapped within that boar's chest, he finally had a real body, a mangy one he admitted, but it still gifted him with flight. He was able to escape the Ark as the bats flew in, scanning one from his cassette mode was an easy process, thankfully he retained his small size allowing him to squeeze through the bars with ease and join the flock. Now he just needed to figure out what to do next, rejoin the Decepticons perhaps, or maybe the Autobots would let him stay. He decided not to think about it, for now he would embrace his freedom.

* * *

_Ratchet_

'Why are you doing this? You told me to save him… I-I don't understand!'

'I told you to do your  _best_  to save him, not to leave him like this.'

No matter how he tried, Ratchet couldn't wrap his mind around it, Arcee loved her fellow Autobots, she was the last Autobot Ratchet would ever expect to hurt let alone kill one of her own.

'I  _did_ try my best to save him, I couldn't manage it, believe me Arcee, if there was anything else I could do to save him I swear, I would do it, but the way he is now..'

Arcee cocked her gun at him.

'Enough Ratchet, you left Sideswipe alive, you told me that anything you tried could have killed him, so why isn't he already dead, why not just put him out of his misery while he is left like this?'

Fixit had radioed Ratchet from outside the ER

'Ratchet, we have a problem out here, can you-'

Ratchet turned off his communicator.

'Damn it Arcee what do you expect me to do, splatter his brain module with a hammer? You can tell me to do my best to save him, to take all risks to save his life, but if you tell me to kill him in cold blood, then by Primus, I will not stand for it.'

Arcee looked as if she were going to cry, her anger swelling up into a knot in her throat.

'Please Ratchet, why leave him in this state, why won't you let him join the Allspark with the rest of the Autobots that have died in the war'

Neither had heard him enter the room, but First Aid was standing behind Ratchet, and pointing an assault rifle at Arcee.

'That's because he doesn't believe in the Allspark,' he turned to Ratchet ',isn't that true Ratchet?'

He nodded his head. Arcee turned from Ratchet, to First Aid and back again.

'How can you even think that Ratchet, everyone who had died in this war, Zeta Prime, Sunstreaker, even Bumblebee, what do you expect happened to them all after they died?'

For a split second, Ratchet could have sworn he had heard the sound of a gunshot.

'When you die, you die…' Ratchets voice sounded grim,' there is nothing more to it.'

Arcee shook her head as if his words were too difficult to process.

'Enough Ratchet, if death is what you say it is, then what difference would it make if you were to end his life now.'

Ratchet brought his hand up to his face and thought to himself. Sideswipe was barely alive as he already was; would pulling the plug be the right thing to do? It  _would_  save precious Energon that the life support systems had been guzzling since landing, and it wouldn't make a difference for Sideswipe considering the condition he is in now.

'Don't listen to her Ratchet' said First Aid 'If you kill him now, how would you be able to live with yourself knowing that you were the one that ended Sideswipes life? What would Bumblebee want?' He shook his head 'No, what would  _Optimus_  want?'

Ratchet was left at a crossroad, unsure whether Sideswipe's life would be worth it or not. Considering the state he was in already, Sideswipe might as well have been already dead, so would it have been best to let him go, even with that small a chance. True to what First Aid said, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself, and if Optimus were here, he would never forgive Ratchet for forcing Sideswipe to fall into deaths cold embrace.

But what was death? Ratchet had admitted to being an Atheist, something Optimus would always argue with him about. He didn't believe in Primus, or the thirteen, or even the Allspark, the only thing that left that fraction of belief, that small part of his conscious that said "what if" - was the Matrix of leadership. He remembered when Optimus returned to the surface. At the time, Ratchet had returned to Iacon after Omega had shut down his systems, he was making minor repairs and retools, fixing every tiny dent of Omega so that the giant would be in top condition for when he would wake up (he never woke up since). When Optimus had returned from the core of Cybertron and told his story about how the core "spoke" to him, Ratchet had thought it to be a joke. That was, until Optimus had revealed the Matrix. He, Perceptor, and even Jetfire had inspected the darned thing dozens of times yet they still couldn't figure out what material it was. That was one mystery; the other was what the matrix did to Prime's body.

The months that followed Optimus' return from the core, the Autobot leader would spend nights screaming in pain. Each morning, his body would look somewhat different. The large wheels he held on his shoulders had seemingly shrunk and tucked themselves into his lower back; his smooth and streamlined truck form had morphed into a bigger and bulkier  _fist_ of an alt mode.

What was also strange was the fact that Optimus would never notice the changes to his body, Ratchet would ask about his wider head whereas Prime would respond with, "It wasn't always like that?" But what may have been the strangest detail about what the Matrix did to Prime's body, was apparent to any Cybertronian. Prime began to look more and more like the first Church's representation of Primus every day.

It had always boggled his mind how it worked, but it would still take a lot more to make him believe in Primus.

Despite all this, he felt like Arcee was right, and he knew why.

'Arcee, you are using Sparkmeal Psychology on me'

First-Aid gave Ratchet a quick, quizzical glance. 'Spa- what?'

'The Primal instinct most male Cybertronians have towards females, it is sometimes used to condition them into obeying a female's wishes.'

Arcee Frowned. 'Ratchet, that is sick. Why would I give you the urge to… to give up your spark?'

First aid tilted his head 'Wait, what?  _Now_ I'm confused.'

'We'll talk about this later First Aid' Ratchet assured

Arcee frowned at him. 'I am not using any biological or psychological trick Ratchet. I am telling you what the right thing is. You  _know_ what the right thing is, and you can  _do_  the right thing Ratchet, just let him go.'

He looked at his options, was Arcee right? Would ending Sideswipe's life really allow him to join with the Allspark? He couldn't decide, he needed a third opinion. He raised his hand to his head.

'Fixit, I need you to get in here.'

He waited. No answer.

'Fixit?'

He raised his hands above his head signaling that he was going to move, and slowly made his way past First Aid, Arcee kept her weapon trained on him just as First Aid pointed his weapon at her. He pulled open the entrance to the ER and turned his head from one side of the med bay to the other; Fixit was nowhere to be seen. He felt a cold hand wrap around his ankle and looked down.

To his shock, Fixit was lying face down on the ground; smoke fuming out a large hole in his back.

'Fixit!'

Fixit's attacker stepped into Ratchet's view. He could see his own reflection in the Aerialbot's visor, as Air Raid raised a Riot cannon to his chest.

'Which one tried to kill Sideswipe?' he said motioning to Arcee and First Aid

'Arcee.'

Air Raid pistol whipped Ratchet, knocking him to the ground as he marched into the ER. The two Autobots gazed at him in confusion.

'Air Raid?' Arcee squinted at him, confused by his cold expression, 'What are you-'

Air Raid aimed the Riot Cannon at Arcee as if he were a part of a twenty one gun salute and opened fire. The recoil of the riot cannon didn't bother him in the leas, as the moment the first shot had connected, he fired again, each blast ripped off chunks of her armor causing sparks and oil to fly from her wounds. Her eyes flickered before dimming as she fell to the energon stained floor with a clang, her shocked expression had remained on her face.

Air Raid, Stop!' First Aid screamed as he leapt onto the Aerialbot's back.

The larger Aerialbot warrior threw the medic against the wall and aimed his riot cannon at the motionless Arcee's head.

'This is what you deserve for trying to kill your friend, traitor'

Just as he readied his cannon and prepared to fire the killing blow, the whole Ark began to shake, tossing the Autobots across the room, Air Raid fell from where he was standing and tumbled over First Aid and Ratchet, the world spinning around him. The tremor stopped and he landed on his back.

The Aerialbot picked himself up and felt an uncanny change in the room, 'What the hell's…' Air Raid looked down and realized that he wasn't standing where he was just moments ago. Perfectly rooted in place and Riot cannon in hand, Air Raid was standing on the ceiling; the Ark had somehow been turned upside down.

* * *

_Jetfire_

Grotusque had assured Jetfire that he knew how to negotiate with the right people. They had reached a small village, according to Grotusque at least. The civilization was impossible to see through the massive wooden fence that surrounded its perimeter. It was made up of large, tree sized, spikes that stood not unlike soldiers at attention. The entrance to the village was guarded by two Cybertronians; one was primarily yellow with purple legs and purple back kibble. The other was bulkier with a primarily purple body, yellow legs, a yellow jaw shaped chest plate, and a large purple backpack that rose over his head. Grotusque appeared to be arguing with the two. Jetfire wasn't certain if this was a bad thing, or if arguments were just a part of this planet's culture, most likely the former. This was the last thing on Jetfire's mind however, as the conversation he had with Silverbolt last night had burned a mark on his processor.

* * *

_Last Night_

Jetfire stared blankly at him. Jetfire hadn't thought too much into it before, but lately he had found incredible difficulty in reading Silverbolt in contrast to the way he was back in their flight days. Back then Silverbolt was a coward, afraid of doing what was commonly seen as the equivalent of walking for him. But now Silverbolt was different, far different.

'What?'

'You heard what I said.'

Jetfire pressed the palm of his hand on his forehead. He blinked, trying to comprehend Silverbolt's words as best he could, he spoke as if he were on the other end of a phone with bad reception, his speech broken down into pauses between syllables.

'You. Want. To. die?'

Silverbolt turned his attention back to the rain, his optics following and scanning each droplet as they dispersed on the dirt below.

'See the way you say it- it's as if I am some sort of emotional wreck, or that I'm insane or- or I don't know.'

'Silverbolt…'

'But I'm not, and I  _don't_ want to die.'

'Then what-'

Silverbolt was facing Jetfire now, a cold glow smoking from his optics.

'Because we ran away Jetfire, we ran away and left everything behind us.'

* * *

_Now_

'Jetfire!'

Grotusque shouted as he he waved him over impatiently. Upon sprinting towards them, Jetfire came to realize that the two guards were bigger up close than they were from the jungle. The purple one was smiling oddly, while the other looked uninterested in Jetfire.

'Is anything wrong?' Jetfire asked.

Grotusque was wearing a obvious fake smile, his eyebrows arching peculiarly.

'Oh no nothing, these guys just wanted to confirm that you weren't a part of a faction of any kind, like you know, of a war effort of any kind, correct?'

Grotusque was nodding at him frantically, it was obvious that certain things said at the wrong time would result in consequences.

'Correct, me and my friend's here…' He waved at the others from afar '…Crash landed here and uh, are looking to tour the village while we're here.'

The yellow one squinted at them; his red optics running across the Autobot symbols on Jetfire's chest and wings.

'What are those?' he asked skeptically.

Jetfire was about to answer before Grotusque interrupted him.

'They are… ex-Autobots; they haven't bothered to remove their symbols because they er lack the necessary equipment to do so, those things are really wedged in there you know.'

The guard kept his optic on Jetfire a little while longer before shrugging.

'Good enough for me.'

He nodded at the other guard who returned in kind and pulled a large lever. The large spiked door that made up the entrance separated revealing the village inside. It was much more compact than Jetfire would have thought. the village appeared to be more of an RV lot for crashed ships, the ground lacking in grass from the constant foot traffic while the crashed ships appeared to have been half buried with only their entrances visible. Better than making a house out of wood, Jetfire mused. There were several robots and animals walking about the village, carrying out their daily pilgrimages, Jetfire figured the creatures were Cybertronian as well but he wasn't ready to speak to one in a mode yet, just in case they turned out to be a pet. The other four Autobots jogged in to see for themselves.

'Holy crud!' exclaimed Wheeljack, 'A whole civilization of Cybertronians with alien mammals as their alternate forms!'

Cliffjumper leaned towards the inventor and whispered, 'Yeah? Not much more than a shanty town made out of vegetables if you asked me.'

Grotusque threw his arms into the air

'Yes! See I told you guys I could get you in, aren't I just the greatest? Now then—'

He paused and brought a finger to the side of his head.

'Yeah, what do you want Repugnus?'

He held out his index finger signaling the Autobots to wait and be quiet.

'Alright got it.'

Grotusque transformed and ascended above them.

'Sorry guys, Repugnus wants me back, we're leaving for another area soon.'

Jazz cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at the flying Monsterbot.

'Hey now, you don't have to go and leave us all on our own you know!'

* * *

_Last night_

'We didn't have to leave Cybertron all on its own Jetfire? If Optimus hadn't shut down the core, then we wouldn't even need to conceive the idea of leaving the planet to rot.'

'What? You  _wanted_  Cybertron to be corrupted with Dark Energon? Silverbolt, have you been paying  _any_ attention? If the Decepticons still had control of the planet's core, then we would have been slaughtered a long time ago.'

Silverbolt ran a finger over his helm designs, pinching the corners in irritation.

'That isn't the point Jetfire, Optimus had us run away from everything we strived to protect, I…  _we_  aren't supposed to be here, we should be fighting to our last breath back on Cybertron, not disgracing it by killing it and abandoning it.'

Jetfire lowered his voice into a growl, 'Silverbolt, I know you are upset but what Optimus did was necessary, we both know that Cybertron won't be left like that forever, our home isn't dead, it is recharging albeit slowly, and besides, what's the point of dying if it accomplishes nothing?'

'Jetfire you just don't understand you- haven't you ever heard the phrase… 'Better to fight and die than live with the knowledge that you ran?'

Jetfire leaned forward to speak, but stopped himself upon realizing what Silverbolt had said.

'… You quoted that from Fisitron.'

'Yeah, so what?'

'You do know that Fisitron left Cybertron a long time ago, that quote is also one of his Fisitronisms so -to be completely honest with you- it should be taken with a grain of salt. Even  _he_  knew that it would be wisest to leave the planet, that's because it wasnecessary.'

Jetfire paused and turned around; Jazz and Cliffjumper were still in stasis naps. Wheeljack appeared to be in a deep sleep a few yards away from them, however Jetfire couldn't shake the feeling he was only pretending.

'That reminds me, Silverbolt, you've been arguing why we shouldn't have left, but here you are with us now, if you wanted to stay so badly, why didn't you?'

* * *

_Now_

'Eh look mister…'

'Snarler'

Wheeljack chuckled to himself 'Okay mister Snarler, our guide has run off would either of you care to help us get around here?'

Jazz stared warily at the smiling purple guard.

'Yeah and particularly not  _Smiles_  over here', he said thumbing towards the silent bot.

'His name is Carnivac, and yeah, I know someone who can help you guys.'

Snarler grinned.

_Catilla_

Within the village, two 'bots were in an argument, one was mainly grey with a yellow chest and a red face, the other looked fairly similar with yellow in places where the other was grey and vice versa. Unlike the other however, this one had a green face rather than a red one.

'Look Chainclaw, I have had it up to here with you I am serving under our king whether you like it or not.' The red faced bot brought was jabbing a finger at the others chest as he snapped at him.

'I am seriously worried about you Catilla, all these "missions" you have been put on, it is starting to freak me out just thinking about what they are having you do.'

'We both know that you are only worried about yourself, I like my job Chainclaw, and it isn't your business how I go about it.'

'Catilla!' Snarler called from afar

'Ah, now if you don't mind, it sounds like I have a job to do.'

Catilla turned around and transformed into a mechanical saber tooth tiger like creature and sprinted off towards Snarler.

Chainclaw thought to himself.

_I'm just worried that you may come to regret this in the future._

Catilla arrived at the entrance (or exit depending on your matter of perspective) and transformed back into robot mode. The visitor's badges had caught his eye.

'Catilla, I need you to show these guys around the village.'

Catilla looked back at the badges and back to him.

'Seriously?'

Snarler let out a laugh 'Don't worry, these guys aren't Autobots no more.' he turned to his guests, eh guys?'

'Of course not.' responded Jetfire almost immediately.

He shot the others a look that told them to play along.

'Er right,' said Jazz 'Yeah them Autobots are a nasty group of a— savages'

Snarler turned back to Catilla, 'See? They are either telling the truth or are amazing at impressions!'

Catilla crossed his arms.

'You  _do_  know what the Pred Council is having me do right? Having me guide these... Oh I see how it is, this is a joke right, all this is a little prank?'

Snarler smiled, 'Yup, and it's a practical one too, so you better get a move on.'

Catilla shrugged and waved at the Autobots to follow, he then transformed and made his way back through the village.

The Autobots exchanged looks of confusion before transforming and following suit.

Jetfire surveyed the ships below him as he flew, they were all much smaller than the Ark, yet at the same time they held familiar designs, the ships were those that had left Cybertron during the great Exodus. They were Autobot ships, so why weren't any Autobots allowed to stay?

* * *

_Last night_

'Look Jetfire, you never classified yourself as an Aerialbot, but  _I_ know that  _you_ know that the flight squadron in a whole is tightly knit, we had a sense of honor so to speak. At least I  _thought_  we did.'

He sat cross legged and leaning against the tree. He peered through the thick branches to get a look at the stars, but was kept from doing so due to the storm clouds coloring the sky black.

'When Optimus Prime announced his idea to leave in a planet wide exodus, I wrote a speech for the other Aerialbots. When I finished writing it I made my way down the hall and heard a few of them talking to one another, they were talking about how happy they were to get the chance to leave Cybertron. The more I overheard, the more I felt my spark sink, It was as if none of them had any reason to stay, as if they had no honor left coursing through their veins.'

Jetfire sat down beside Silverbolt, staring at him intently. When Silverbolt paused, to Jetfire it was as if the whole universe had stopped talking. Even the raindrops sounded lighter in comparison to Silverbolt's voice.

'I could hear them all Jetfire, some were already packing their things. It was as if I had lost all hope for my Aerialbots, there was only one wanted to stay and fight…'

Jetfire could tell who it was by the tone of Silverbolt's voice.

'Air Raid.'

Silverbolt nodded 'Yeah, yes, Air Raid was starting a commotion with the others, threatened them with a gun too. I felt proud that at least  _one_ of my brothers weren't complete cowards, but that all changed when Optimus came in… the minute I saw his faceplate come into view, I knew Air Raid would change his mind.'

'And he did?'

'Of course he did. He was consulted by Optimus Freaking Prime, he can get almost any Autobot to do anything just by talking to him and calling them "Old Friend"'

'So you didn't say anything?'

'How could I? I led an army Jetfire, and each and every one of them wanted to leave. How do you expect me to talk back to Optimus Prime in front of them? How would they have seen me if I said I wanted to stay?'

He placed his head in his hands.

'It isn't like I can do anything about it now…' I led them all to their deaths…'

Jetfire put a hand on his shoulder 'Listen here Silverbolt, they sacrificed themselves to save the Ark along with many of the other Autobots, besides we still have Air Raid as well as—'

Silverbolt slapped his hand away, bringing his own to his chest.

'No Jetfire, what I am trying to say is they died following  _my_  orders that I- that I purposely gave them.'

* * *

_Now_

'And  _here_  is our workshop' announced Catilla as they entered the small buried ship.

The area looked primitive, to Wheeljack at the least, but a workshop is a workshop he thought.

The room was flooded with tools and equipment that –to the average bot- would have appeared to be junk, Wheeljack knew otherwise, he had spent enough years both studying and teaching in engineering, and he knew scientific marvel when he saw it. Inside the workshop was a lone bot, he mainly grey in colour and had a blue visor with a grey faceplate and helmet which featured light blue horns sticking out of either side, not unlike Cliffjumper's helm. His legs were light blue and his wrists bore sharp silver claws like that of a scorpion. He was tinkering around in some sort of work station.

'Pincher, why don't you tell these guys what you are working on?'

He didn't answer.

'Pincher?'

The grey bot continued to work without acknowledging any of them.

Giving up, Catilla turned his back on him, facing the Autobots.

'Yeah, this guy is kind of a weirdo to be honest, we should probably just move on yeah?'

Wheeljack erupted into a high pitched scream prompting the others to hold their audio receptors and stare at him.

'What?!' Jazz screamed back.

Wheeljack ignored him and placed himself next to Pincher, panting and pointing an eager digit at Pincher's project.

'Is that a 20 megavolt stun rifle with inner laser torch compatibility?'

Pincher stopped what he was doing and turned to him dully, he appeared somewhat surprised, not that it was easy to tell with his faceplate and visor in the way.

Catilla let out an unenthused groan, 'Pincher, you know "his majesty" only allows bladed weapons in here, so throw that thing away with the others and get to work on the stuff we  _are_  going to use.'

Pincher reached across the table for a pair of katana like blades that glowed an ominous green but was grabbed at the wrist by Wheeljack. 'Nah, ignore him and answer the question, is that what I said it was?'

Pincher flinched, 'Yes it is, I am surprised you recognize it.'

'How can I  _not_  recognize it, you know who I am? I am Wheel- wait for it-  _JACK_ **,** only the top Mechanical Engineer on Cybertron thank you very much.' He took a bow to accentuate his gesture.

Pincher tilted his head 'Wheeljack?'

'Yeah, the one and onl-'

'Never heard of you.'

Wheeljack slammed his fist against the work table.

'WHAT?!'

* * *

_Last night_

'You heard me Wheeljack.'

For the past hour, two hours, Jetfire couldn't tell how long it had been, Wheeljack had been wide awake, unable to find a suitable sleeping position. It was now apparent that he had given up, and had been overhearing Silverbolt and Jetfire's conversation since the beginning.

'You sent the Aerialbots into battle knowing they would die?!'

'Wheeljack, calm down, let Silverbolt speak'

'Hold on just a moment Jetfire, you really can't defend him after what he just said.' Wheeljack snapped.

Jetfire raised a calming hand to the inventor, 'Just let him try and explain himself first,  _then_  we can judge him.'

'No,' denied Silverbolt 'Judge away, I am as disgusted with myself as you are, During Megatron's attack on the Ark launch, before Metroplex was awakened, I led the Aerialbots out to battle, knowing that they would be escaping on the Ark rather than dying in battle. I sent them on full on assaults, no strategy, no goal, just a constant barrage of missile fire, they thought they were doing the right thing, in reality they were flying straight to their deaths. It wasn't until I was shot down did the slaughter stop.'

Silverbolt paused, rubbing his forehead with trembling fingers.

'And then there was the Ark attack post launch, only ten fliers are still alive now,  _only ten!_ **'**

Wheeljack shook his head in disappointment, 'You piece of slag.'

'I— I just wanted them to die how they were supposed to- wanted them to die  _right_ , I realized that I was wrong and…  _I tried to kill myself Wheeljack!_ I couldn't take-, I just…'

Wheeljack let out a sigh and lied back down against the tree's bark 'Look bud, I didn't hear anything tonight alright? Sending your troops on a full on assault is a crappy strategy given the odds, but it was a strategy, it worked, the Decepticons were repelled. I won't tell anyone what you did, and I doubt Jetfire will either, g'night'

Jetfire nodded. 'Your secret is safe Silverbolt'

Silverbolt dug his face into his folded arms 'It doesn't make me feel any better.'

Jetfire placed his hand on Silverbolt's shoulder again, this time it stayed.

'Look Silverbolt, things will be made right, you aren't the only one that wanted to die fighting.'

Silverbolt looked up at him, a glimmer of hope in his optic.

Jetfire smiled, 'Two of them are in a stasis nap right over there' he said pointing at Jazz and Cliffjumper.

Silverbolt let out a soft laugh.

'You see Silverbolt, everything's fine, we will return to Cybertron one day, and your er…  _Honour_  will return, just be patient.'

Silverbolt was staring at the ground, a light grin forming on his faceplate.

'Hey Jetfire, thanks for… this. It really means a lot to me, just letting it all out.'

Jetfire smiled in exchange, 'It's my pleasure Silverbolt, if you ever want to talk just… you know, call me up.'

Silverbolt nodded and made another attempt to see the stars,

'You know what Jetfire? You're an even better smooth talker than Optimus.'

'Heh… but I didn't…'

'In fact, you have become a pretty good leader for us, even if it's only been about a week.'

Jetfire cringed,  _not this again, we can talk about anything, just not this_. He didn't care if it seemed abrupt or if it gave way to how he really felt about the subject, but he  _had_ to change the topic.

'Hey but besides that, did you really say Optimus Freaking Prime earlier?'

'Heh yeah I guess I did'

Jetfire broke into laughter and Silverbolt soon followed. Before they knew it, the rain had stopped and the sun was rising, their laughter echoing throughout the jungle.

* * *

_Now_

They walked out of the lab like the morning after, awkward and without turning back.

'You're sure your friend will be alright staying back there?' asked Catilla, unsure if he wanted an answer or not.

'Oh yeah' Cliffjumper said trying to sound reassuring, 'It would probably be best to leave Wheeljack and let him rant.'

'Poor guy.' said Jazz 'having to hear Wheeljack rant about… himself, it's bound to be hell.'

'Catilla, its Catilla right?' Jetfire shook his head, skipping to the point. 'Look we really just need meet with whoever's in charge here, so if you could please just-'

Catilla raised an open palm to him, scowling as if he had been insulted.

'Our king is too busy at this time; you will have to make an appointment if you wish to see him.'

_King…_  Jetfire thought, what kind of bot called themselves a "king."

His trail of thought was broken as a curdled scream echoed from nearby.

'That came from just around this bend!' exclaimed Cliffjumper.

'Then what are we waiting for?' said Jazz, already on the move, 'let's break a leg!'

The five bots kicked the dirt as they raced around the bend towards the source of the screaming. Forty yards away they found a trio of large, jock bots kicking a scrawny yellow and white robot on the ground. His friends, a stout red and grey elderly looking bot, and a black and gold femme were huddled mere feet away, watching in shock and anguish.

'Whass-a-matta Brimstone?' taunted a green and black bot with long shoulder pads that reached over his head and a red mohawk shaped helmet. "You're a body guard aint ya? So why don't you try guarding your body?' The bot kicked him in the chest a second time.

Brimstone shifted back and inhaled as if he were emerging from water in order to come up for air. This time he shifted his body in a different way, his legs expanded and his head began to tuck itself in as he transformed. Aware of what he was trying to pull, the three larger bots got on top of him and began to punch and grab at him. One of them, a bulky, blue-faced, orange bot with green limbs and an odd mustache-shaped panel above his upper lip had his hand stuck as two of Brimstone's panels clamped around his digits in mid Transformation.

'Little punk, you trying to chop off my fragging hand?' The mustachioed bot cursed as he slammed his fist against the transforming bot in the face, just as the head had fully tucked itself in. The bot pulled his other hand out of Brimstones tight paneling and testes each joint, ensuring that they all worked properly and without malfunction.

'Your hand alright Stranglehold?' asked the Mo hawked bot

He tightened his hand into a fist and grinned, 'Relax, I  _like_ the pain, now then…' Stranglehold looked down at the partially transformed robot/pterodactyl and smiled. 'Why don't we do something about all that  _squirming_.'

As he reached down towards the beaten bot, Stranglehold felt a light force hit against his shoulder blade.

'Airazor no!' cried the elderly bot, reaching out at the group.

Airazor ignored him and continued to hit the larger bot. 'You, Leave him alone!' she screamed as she threw another punch.

Stranglehold stared down at her in wonder, and grabbed her by the waist.

'Hah, isn't all this cute, say, why don't you ditch this old man and come with us after this is done eh?' He held her closer, close enough that Airazor could feel his breath on her neck, and close enough that she didn't want to have anything to do with him. She gently pushed him away by his chest.

Brimstone fully in Pterodactyl mode flapped his wings to lift himself off the ground.

'Octopunch!' snapped the Mohawked bot, 'his punishment isn't done yet!'

The third of the trio transformed into an orange and red crab, a tentacle slithering out of his claw and thrusted towards Brimstone like a gunshot, catching the pterodactyl and slamming him back to the ground.

'You think you're better than us because you can fly eh? Let's see what happens when we clip those wings o' yours' said the Mohawked bot with a sneer.

Brimstone shuddered. Unlike Cybertron, the village was void of "Extra Wings", or "Spare Parts", if he were to lose his wings the only method to be used in said situation would be an amputation, no longer would he be able to fly above the green canopies to escape the harsh reality that was the planet, no longer would he be able to hold his job of guarding Backstop or fetching him his mail. What would his friend Air Razor think when he would no longer be able to soar with her? He just couldn't live without it.

'dnttkethm'

The Mohawked bot leaned in towards Brimstone, cupping his hand around his audio receptor.

'I'm sorry, what was that?'

'Isddnttkthm'

'One more time please?'

' _Isd-I said-DON'T TAKE THEM, PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY WINGS!_ ' he screeched.

'Oh I am sorry, but it really is  _your_ fault that it had to come to this.'

_'No, PLEASE I- I will do ANYTHING!'_

'Octopunch, clip 'em'

'N-AAGGGHH!'

Octopunch wrapped his claws around Brimstones wings and clamped them down. As metal and tissue squeezed together, a sickening crunch echoed around throughout the area.'

'You hear that?' whispered Stranglehold to Airazor 'That's the sound of your friends' wings snapping off.' Air Razor shut her eyes tight, but she could still hear the screams of her partner reverberating through her skull.

The four Autobots and their guide stood and watched. Jetfire turned to Catilla.

'Catilla,  _please,_ let us do something, you know these people don't you?'

Catilla stood there motionless. 'This is simply how the laws of this planet work, survival of the fittest, my friends, survival of the fittest.'

If there was ever such a thing as being able to transform angrily, then Cliffjumper would have done it as his joints clanked in a loud and aggressive way into his vehicle mode.

'I for one am  _not_  going to sit here and watch those rust buckets do…  _that_  to that civilian' Cliffjumper announced as he sped ahead.

Silverbolt transformed as well, leaping into the air and transforming into his sleek jet mode.

'…pieces of tin'

He muttered before igniting his jet engines and thrusting after Cliffjumper.

Jetfire panicked 'Silverbolt, Cliffjumper wait!'

Jazz had transformed as well, not in his usual "stylish" way, but as if it was a regular task.

'Jazz, please, don't tell me yo-'

But before Jetfire could finish, Jazz had already joined with the others.

Catilla turned to Jetfire, a grim sneer plastered across his faceplate, 'You have to do something about your men Jetfire, once word is out about their interference, their freedom, or -more likely- their lives, will be lost.'

'What? I- they- is there anything we can  _do?'_

'Well in the end it will all be determined on whether you are found guilty by the king himself.'

'And this king is?'

Catilla paused as movement ahead of Jazz, Cliffjumper and Silverbolt had caught his attention. The Autobots were nearing Brimstone and the trio when he noticed the crowd begin to spread. A tall figure had entered the scene, his mere presence causing the ones around him to bow and part ways, Octopunch had transformed into his robot mode and backed off while Stranglehold had disappeared into the crowd leaving Airazor behind.

'Where are you two going?!' screamed the Mohawk bot. Without noticing the being behind him, he shrugged and got back to work.

'Fine I'll do it myself' the bot transformed into an orange and green lizard and began biting down on Brimstone's wing, it was far more effective than Octopunch's claws, however to Brimstone, it didn't make a difference. He could no longer feel the pain in his wing after it had snapped off. An oily tear ran down the side of his beak upon seeing the wing laid out in front of him.

'Now it's time for wing two.' as the lizard said this, a shadow had overcome him, noticing it, he looked up in horror to see his king standing before him. Frozen in fear he could only whimper:

'Razorclaw…'

The large golden bot stood majestically. He pointed at the lizard and addressed three other bots that had followed him.

'Cindersaur, Flamefeather, Sparkstalker. Obliterate'

The three bots transformed into a red reptilian looking monster, a Bipedal Bird looking creature and a red Bipedal insectoid creature. The three opened their mouths and shot a flurry of Pink and black flames, engulfing the one winged Brimstone and the Lizard both. Their screams were heard throughout the small village, causing civilians to cover but eyes and ears in disgust. Jazz and Cliffjumper swerved to a halt as Silverbolt transformed to robot mode, sliding on the ground as he stuck his landing. All three frozen in an uncanny terror from what they had witnessed.

Airazor had covered her mouth to hold in a scream. Brimstone's body was nothing more than a smoldering pile of ash, while the lizard's corpse was charred black, his head broken off from his singed body and laid on the dirt floor. His mouth wide open, as if still in mid scream.

Jetfire wondered, was the rest of the universe really as dirty and tainted as Cybertron was? Was there no other planet that had a golden age, where a civilization could live in harmony? His question was apparently answered this day when a bot was incinerated. This world is not where they need to be, this is not the place Optimus Prime had envisioned them to live out their lives. He slammed his fist against the nearest tree and roared in frustration.

 


End file.
